Peter Jones tells Expansys: I'm in

Dragons' Den star launching £6.1m bid for online retailer

TV's Peter Jones is launching a £6.1m bid for Expansys after upping his stake in the AIM-listed etailer to over 50 per cent.

According to stock market rules, any shareholder owning between 30 and 50 per cent of a company who then acquires further shares must make a full offer for the company.

Jones, famous for his appearances on BBC's Dragons' Den, yesterday upped his holding in the laptop and smartphone supplier from 41.43 to 50.92 per cent after buying 110.3 million shares.

This triggered the need for him to launch a 0.55-pence-a-share bid for Expansys, valuing the firm at £6.1m.

Jones' offer represents a premium of 12.9 per cent over Expansys closing midmarket price of 0.465 pence on 14 January. Jones' advising broker, WH Ireland, said it is satisfied the entrepreneur has the £2.86m in cash needed to satisfy acceptance of the offer.

"The independent directors will consider the mandatory offer and will provide further advice to shareholders in due course," Expansys said in a statement.

For the six months ending 31 October 2013, Expansys sank to a loss of £2.4m on revenues of £60.2m as a one-off charge relating to its US SIM business hit the bottom line.

Alongside its web shop, Expansys.com, the Expansys group also includes mobile network services firm PJ Media and UK SIM Distributor Data Select Networks, the latter of which last week took a 50 per cent stake in rival Sims4U.