| Simon Halabi | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1950 Damascus, Syria |
| Nationality | British |
| Spouse | Urte |
| Children | Samuel (d. 2003) Jacob |
Simon Halabi (Arabic: سيمون حلبي) is a Syrian-born in Damascus Syria, he is a businessman formerly based in the United Kingdom. He is married to Lithuanian born Urte and has two sons, Samuel and Jacob. Samual died in August 2003 in a pool accident in France.[1]
His wealth derived initially from his family - his father was a successful businessman in Syria and backed his son in his early ventures.[2] Embarking on a series of speculative property ventures, he amassed a sizeable fortune himself. In the Sunday Times Rich List 2007 he was ranked 14th richest person in Britain,[3] while the Forbes list of global billionaires listed him at #194 in 2007, with an estimated net worth of $4.3billion.[4] In 2009 Forbes ranked him #224 with a reduced net worth of $2.8billion.[5]
Although he remained an intensely private man, he was fond of conspicuous consumption, owning a large fleet of luxury cars including Bentleys and Rolls Royce Phantoms, as well as a 130 ft yacht.[6]
In late 2007 the sports gym chain Esporta, which he had purchased for £460m, was forced into administration, costing Halabi at least £120m of his own money, as well as damaging his relationship with his main creditors Société Générale.[7]
January 2008 saw the former tycoon forced to sell his one third stake in the flagship Shard of Glass development in London for £30m - a stake that had been valued at over £130m just six months earlier.[8] Later that year, the Mentmore Towers project, which Halabi had purchased in 1997, with a view to turning into a six star hotel, ran into problems. The grade II listed building was mothballed, with essential maintenance work remaining undone as the project architects sued Halabi for unpaid fees. During summer 2008 English Heritage ranked three of Halibi's assets as "Buildings at Risk" showing their concern about the future for the important listed buildings concerned, and their maintenance.[9]
In June 2009, his group of property companies defaulted on $1.9billion of bonds. The debts in question had been secured on nine London properties, which had fallen in value by up to 50% since the start of the credit crunch, leaving them in negative equity,[10] and in August 2009 insolvency specialists MCR were appointed as liquidators of Buckingham Securities Holdings, Halabi's principal client advisory vehicle.[11]
By October 2009 Halabi's Anglo Swiss Holdings company began to liquidate assets including the attempted sale of the central London Cambridge House building previously known as the In and Out Club in Picadilly.[12]
On 1 April 2010, he was declared bankrupt in High Court in London.[13] He was not present for the bankruptcy proceedings and was not represented by anybody. His current whereabouts are unknown - his last known address was reported to be a hotel room in Switzerland.
Aviva Tower, part of the Halabi's White Tower portfolio was eventually sold for £288m in April 2011.[14] It was originally purchased in 2003 for £260m.[15]