Lord Michael Ashcroft is back on the prowl in the City, pumping £2 million into a cash shell which is on the lookout for business services acquisitions.

The business mogul has assembled an all-star cast for the vehicle, called Shellshock (SHOK:AIM), which features a number of former colleagues.

Chief executive Alex Dacre is ex-Restore (RST:AIM) and Impellam (IPEL:AIM), two companies in which Ashcroft maintains indirect stakes and which have delivered fantastic share price gains.

Finance director Derek O’Neill was CEO and a majority shareholder in Lorien Resourcing. That business was sold in November to Impellam.

Restore CEO Charles Skinner is non-executive director at Shellshock, which expects to change its name to Marlowe Holdings on 15 May 2015. It raised a total of £5.2 million and now has £8.3 million with which to pursue deals.

Keep a close eye on this stock at 82.5p as following Ashcroft has historically been a profitable trade. We’ll revisit the stock once it finds a suitable acquisition. (WC)