Albert Gubay

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Albert Gubay (born 1928) is a Welsh multi-millionaire, presently based in Santon, Isle of Man.

Gubay made his fortune in retailing with Kwik Save, but built it further on investments, mainly in property development. According to Forbes, in 2006 he had an estimated fortune of approximately GBP500 million (USD1.1 billion), making him the 698th richest person in the world.^[1]

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Kwik Save 1.2 3 Guys 1.3 Total Fitness 1.4 Portville 1.5 Pact with God 1.6 Charity 1.7 Personal life 2 References 3 External links

[edit] Biography

Born in 1928 in Rhyl,^[2] to a Jewish father^[3] and an Irish Roman Catholic mother, Gubay began his business career in North Wales selling non-sugar sweets during post-World War II confectionery rationing. When rationing came to an end in the late 1950s, the confectionery business ran into difficulties and Gubay moved into retailing via market stalls.^[4]

[edit] Kwik Save

Gubay founded Value Foods on 11 May 1959 in Prestatyn, and rented its first retail shop in Rhyl in July 1959. Gubay infringed local laws on shop opening, by staying open till 9pm on Fridays, thereby breaking the 1950 Shops Act. His aggressive price cutting resulted in some manufacturers refusing to supply him.^[5]

In 1964 Gubay visited the United States with fellow director Ken Nicholson, and learnt about the "baby shark" method of retailing. Combined with ideas gained from West German retailer Aldi, the business model was based on buying goods on favourable (net 60 or 90) payment terms, distributing and selling them at or below cost before the payment fell due, and using the interest on the resulting cash flow to fund the business. The first Kwik Save Discount branded store opened in Prestatyn in 1965, and produced more sales than the existing Value Foods supermarkets. The second opened in Colwyn Bay, and by 1970 Kwik Save Discount had 24 stores.

Just before it was floated on to the London Stock Exchange in November 1970, the company changed its name formally to Kwik Save Discount Group Ltd. In 1973, Gubay sold Kwik Save for £14M/$28 million.^[6]

[edit] 3 Guys

After selling Kwik Save, Gubay repeated the low-price retail model in New Zealand, Ireland and the United States:^[7]

• New Zealand
• Ireland - Gubay founded 3 Guys in Ireland, selling the chain to the H Williams chain of supermarkets in 1986, which subsequently collapsed in the same year. Many ended up as outlets of other chains, including Crazy Prices, which was later bought by Tesco together with a residual stake in a new 3 Guys chain to create Tesco Ireland.^[8]
• United States - Gubay entered the United States in 1980, but was not as successful as in his other locations. The chain went bankrupt late in 1985, with the stores selling to other chains including Food Lion.^[9]

[edit] Total Fitness

While recovering from a back injury, Gubay founded fitness chain Total Fitness. Gubay sold the mainly North East and Irish based chain of 21 locations and 150,000 members to the private equity arm of Legal & General, in August 2001 for £120 million.^[10]

[edit] Portville

Gubay has since moved his focus to property development, via Portville.^[11] He has mass investments, mainly in the UK,^[12] Ireland,^[13] and Russia. He was named the top property developer in Wales in 2005.^[14]

[edit] Pact with God

In summer 1997, Gubay told an RTE television documentary that he had made a '50-50' deal with God, that he had promised when he was younger and penniless to give half his estate to the Catholic Church, if he succeeded in becoming a millionaire.^[15]

In the 1980s, Gubay paid for a replacement church at the site of St Antony in Onchan, Isle of Man. The church was designed by Clayton/Massey, with local architect John Cryer responsible for the interior, and Gubay's suggestion of a window illustrating Christ walking on Douglas Bay by Chris Spittall as focal point.^[16] In 1990, Gubay paid for an extension to Our Lady of the Nativity church in Leixlip, County Kildare, in memory of his mother the locally born Mary Clarke.^[17]

[edit] Charity

Like many billionaires, Gubay has been generous in his donations to various charities. These include an Isle of Man Government bursary program fully funded by Gubay, which means that students from the Isle of Man can enter any of the worlds Top Ten Universities.^[18]

[edit] Personal life

Gubay and his wife live in Santon, Isle of Man. The couple have two children, and were petitioned to stay on the Island by locals after he threatened to leave for Switzerland in light of a dispute over tax.^[19]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Profile at Forbes.com