Tiny Rowland and The House of Fraser

In November 1984, the Fayed brothers bought 30 percent of the shareholding of the House of Fraser department store group, which included the flagship store Harrods. The shareholding had been built up by R.W. “Tiny” Rowland, the chief executive of the now-defunct Lonrho group. Tiny offered the shares to Mohamed for £3.50 per share – which Mohamed accepted.

In March 1985, Mohamed and his brothers made an offer for the remaining 70 percent of House of Fraser shares. The shareholders were expecting a counter offer from Tiny – but none came. He could not raise the money to beat Mohamed’s offer of £4 a share.

Tiny could not accept that he had been defeated in his bid to buy back House of Fraser, and he embarked on a bitter vendetta that lasted seven years. He used his ownership of The Observer newspaper to defame Mohamed on a weekly basis.
 
He didn’t stop there. In 1987 Tiny managed to persuade the government of Margaret Thatcher to open an inquiry into the Fayeds’ acquisition of the House of Fraser group. However, no action was taken as a result of the Department of Trade and Industry’s investigation.

On 22nd October 1992, he finally agreed to make peace with Mohamed and Ali. And to seal the deal, Mohamed lowered the stuffed shark that had hovered above the fish counter of the Harrods’ Food Halls, which had had the word “Tiny” painted on its dorsal fin.

The final chapter came in 1994. House of Fraser stores was floated on the London Stock Exchange. The offer price of £1.80 a share was almost three times oversubscribed.

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