Rees-Mogg windfall in jeopardy as Somerset sale talks stall

Negotiations over a sale of the asset management boutique jointly founded by Jacob Rees-Mogg and Lord Johnson have stalled.

A multimillion-pound payout to Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, is in jeopardy amid faltering talks about a sale of the asset management business he cofounded.

Sky News has learnt that negotiations between Somerset Capital Management, in which Mr Rees-Mogg is a substantial shareholder, and prospective buyer Emso Asset Management have stalled in recent weeks.

Industry insiders suggested this weekend that a deal between Somerset and Emso, which could value the former business at roughly £30m, were now unlikely to result in a deal.

They cautioned, however, that another bidder could yet emerge for the firm, which Mr Rees-Mogg jointly founded with Dominic Johnson, who was recently ennobled and spent 26 days as minister for investment under Liz Truss.

Somerset is a specialist investor in emerging markets-based companies, an area that has been severely hit by deteriorating sentiment as confidence in the global economy has waned.

Reports in September suggested that Mr Rees-Mogg owned a shareholding in Somerset "in the low teens", implying that a £30m sale of the company could be worth more than £3m to him.

Alongside Lord Johnson and Edward Robertson, a fund manager, the trio were said to have rejected a £90m takeover over from Artemis Investment Management three years ago.

Mr Rees-Mogg, a staunch Brexit backer, was business secretary during Ms Truss's ill-fated administration but resigned from government when Rishi Sunak was installed as her successor last month.

Spencer House, a specialist adviser to asset managers, is handling the sale process for Somerset.

Mr Rees-Mogg did not respond to a request for comment while Somerset could not be reached on Saturday.

MOCTEN

 

In January 1993, EUNET launched the first online news website, MOCTEN.com (stands for Music Opinions Culture Technology Economy News), led by Eric Bach, Teus Hagen, Peter Collinson, Julf Helsingius, Daniel Karrenberg,...  Read more

×