LONDON - Mike Ashley's Frasers Group has increased its maximum exposure to German fashion house Hugo Boss to 840 million pounds ($954 million), it said on Monday.

Frasers, formerly called Sports Direct, is on a drive to move upmarket and now holds 4.3% of Hugo Boss stock directly and a further 28.5% via the sale of derivatives known as put options.

The British sportswear and apparel retailer first took a stake in Hugo Boss - a supplier to Frasers' House of Fraser and Flannels chains - in 2020.

Frasers said it has a long history of making strategic investments to develop relationships and partnerships with other retailers, suppliers and brands.

Earlier this month, Frasers bought a 4.5% stake in online clothing retailer N Brown and it is also seeking full ownership of Australian online retailer Mysale.

The Telegraph newspaper reported on Saturday that Frasers has built a stake in online fashion retailer ASOS of more than 5%.

ASOS declined to comment on the report and Frasers did not comment beyond stating it makes strategic investments in the ordinary course of its business.

A stake in excess of 5% would require a regulatory filing from ASOS.

Shares in ASOS were up 2.6% at 0748 GMT, shares in Frasers were up 0.9%, and shares in Hugo Boss were down 0.2%.

Ashley stepped down as Frasers' chief executive in May and was succeeded by his son-in-law Michael Murray. However, Ashley still owns 69% of Frasers' equity.

($1 = 0.8804 pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by David Goodman and David Holmes)