Elliott bought bookstore Waterstones in 2018 and also has a stake in Foyles. Last year, the firm was understood to have considered making a £500m bid for clothing outlet Reiss, and it financially backed lender Bantry Bay, which provided Matalan with a £60m financing deal. It has also provided lending to Asos and Superdry.
The firm entered the auction last year to buy The Body Shop, which has now fallen into administration, putting 2,000 jobs at risk.
Sitting in the FTSE-250, Currys’ share price has been on a slow downward trajectory for the past three years, facing the same economic headwinds as other retailers.
Last month, it reported a fall in sales over the Christmas period, but the company has said its profit outlook was being upgraded, thanks to a series of cost-cutting measures it has undertaken.
In his statement, Alex Baldock, group chief executive, said the group has seen “encouraging momentum” in the UK and Ireland as well as a rise in the sale of services that “boost margins”.
Set up by Paul Singer in 1977, Elliott has a reputation as an active investor and has made its presence known in UK boardrooms. In 2018, Elliott took a stake in shopping centre-owner Hammerson and increased its holding to add pressure on the board to speed up the disposal of assets and change its management.
An agreement was reached between the two that included a shake-up of Hammerson’s board of directors.
In the same year, Elliott became the largest shareholder in Whitbread, which owns Premier Inn, and called for it to spin off Costa Coffee. Whitbread sold this a year later, to Coca-Cola.
The company also took a multimillion-pound stake in pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline in 2021, and reportedly tried to force its chief executive, Dame Emma Walmsley, to reapply for her job following “years of disappointing performance”.
The news of Elliott’s interest in Currys was first reported by Sky News on Saturday.