What a Mike Ashley Overgate takeover could mean for Dundee

The company controlled by retail magnate Mike Ashley has sealed a deal to acquire the Overgate Shopping Centre in Dundee.

The Dundee shopping centre has been discretely marketed for sale since last Easter.

Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group and current Overgate owner Legal and General have been in talks for months.

The sale was finally announced on Friday morning.

Here are the ways the multi-million-pound investment could impact Dundee.

Debenhams replacement

The first and most obvious move is the centre’s largest retail unit, Debenhams, is highly likely be filled after being vacant for two years.

It is understood this unit is earmarked for a Frasers department store that will contain some of the other Ashley brands.

The Debenhams store in the Overgate closed in 2020. Image: Gareth Jennings/DC Thomson.

Frasers Group also owns Sports Direct, Game, Flannels, Jack Wills, USC, Lillywhites and Evans Cycles.

Fitting out the vast shop, which measures more than 100,000 sq ft, is likely to take between 18 months and two years.

This would also create dozens of jobs. When Debenhams closed in Dundee in December 2020 around 150 jobs were lost.

Mr Ashley previously failed in attempts to acquire Debenhams as the business failed. If he buys the Overgate, he has first option on the prime Dundee site.

The possibility to transform Debenhams is undoubtedly one of the reasons Frasers Group has made the Overgate deal.

House of Fraser used to own Arnotts in Dundee High Street, which closed in January 2003 and later became Zara. It is now a Covid-19 vaccination centre.

Sports Direct

Another intriguing element is what would become of Sports Direct within the Overgate Shopping Centre.

It is not impossible that this brand could also be integrated into the former Debenhams space.

This would free up a corner site in the centre – but it might not remain a retail property.

Sports Direct at the Overgate Shopping Centre in Dundee. Image: Mhairi Edwards/DC Thomson.

The Courier understands the Sports Direct shop, with its large ceiling heights, would be able to contain a six-screen cinema.

If this happens it would be several years down the line, but a cinema was part of plans to extend the Overgate Shopping Centre that were dropped due to the 2008 financial crash.

Former Murraygate Tesco

And what of the former Tesco site, owned by Frasers Group, in Dundee’s Murraygate?

As landlord it did not renew Tesco’s lease when it expired in 2019.

The company later said it would open a Sports Direct and USC on the site in “late 2020” but it still remains empty.

The old Tesco Murraygate site remains empty in Dundee. Image: Kenny Smith/DC Thomson.

If Fraser Group purchases the Overgate, it is unlikely this plan will go ahead.

Meanwhile Tesco has opened its new Murraygate store in December.

Computer game shop Game, also on the Murraygate, also closed in January.

Who is Mike Ashley?

Mr Ashley is best known for founding Sports Direct chain of retail shops, which made him a billionaire.

He purchased Newcastle United Football Club in 2007, eventually selling the club in October 2021.

In recent years he has acquired several retail brands including buying House of Fraser from administration in 2018.

Mike Ashley gives evidence to the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee in 2016 over working conditions. Picture: PA

His company now goes under the name Frasers Group. Mr Ashley stepped back from running Frasers in May, when he installed his son-in-law Michael Murray as chief executive. He left the board in October.

But he continues to control more than two-thirds of the shares in the business which is listed on the stock exchange and valued at almost £3.5 billion.