The money involved is insignificant for the man who claims to own more than 10 per cent of all the Victoria Crosses ever awarded, but intriguing nonetheless. Lord Ashcroft, Tory treasurer and onetime enfant terrible of British business, is buying into a tiny asset management business, Arc Fund Management.
True to form, Ashcroft is acquiring a 21 per cent stake in Arc at a discount – paying 8p a share, or £2.1m in total – when other investors are paying 11p-a-share in an accompanying £900,000 placing arranged by small company broker, Fiske & Co. On Friday, the shares closed at 13.25p.
Arc, which targets the wealth management sector and joined AIM in August last year, has some £275m of assets under management. The firm had a rocky start as a listed company, with its chief executive, Christopher Rowe, forced to resign as chairman of one of its troubled early investments – shipwreck salvage firm Subsea Resources.