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David Ross, the co-founder of Carphone Warehouse who is battling to keep his property empire together, today raised over £70 million selling stakes in two listed companies.
JPMorgan Cazenove handled the sales of 24 million of Ross's shares in Carphone and his entire 11.5 million share stake in Big Yellow, the self storage group.
Carphone shares dropped 9p to 162p as the placing went on and Big Yellow fell 21p to 317p.
Ross resigned from the boards of Carphone and Big Yellow and also National Express last December when it emerged that he had pledged more than £200 million worth of shares in the companies against loans taken out by his private property business Kandahar.
Last week Ross bought out Morgan Stanley as his minority partner in Kandahar for a nominal sum. It is understood that he is currently renegotiating some £247 million of loans with the Bank of Scotland arm of Lloyds Banking Group but in the meantime the business has breached its banking covenants. These include a loan-to-value limit of 82.5% whereas Kandahar's current level is way over that at 134%. But a technical breach will not be reached until a formal property revaluation due next month.
Kandahar made a loss of £95 million in 2007 the last year for which accounts have been filed at Companies House.
Ross will retain a large stake in Carphone with 152 million shares currently worth some £150 million.
