Nick Leslau
| Nick Leslau | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Nicholas Mark Leslau 18 August 1959 (age 58)[1] Cricklewood, London, England |
| Residence | Mayfair, London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Mill Hill School |
| Occupation | Investor |
| Employer | Prestbury Investment Holdings |
| Known for | Commercial Property Investment |
| Net worth |
 £350 million[2] |
| Spouse(s) | Maxine Leslau |
| Children | 3 boys |
Nick Leslau (born 18 August 1959) is an English commercial property investor, with an estimated fortune in the Sunday Times Rich List of £350 million.[2] He owns Thorpe Park and Alton Towers which he leases to Merlin Entertainment. Leslau owns a Hawker 800XP private jet and is a Director of Saracens Rugby Club.
Early life and education
The son of a father who was a jeweller and part-time art historian, his parents divorced when he was nine. His mother subsequently worked full-time so that Leslau could be educated at a preparatory school in Hampstead, and at Mill Hill School.[3] Leslau left the University of Warwick where he was studying German,[4] to study surveying.
Career
After meeting Sam Rosen, Leslau joined the ground rent company of commodities traders Burford Group. He became a chartered surveyor with Burford, rising to junior partner in 1982. At 23, Leslau became Chief Executive and, wanting to move further into property, contacted Nigel Wray to engineer a reverse takeover of Wray's listed company Chartsearch in 1986 for £8 million.[5] They expanded the company into a £1 billion enterprise, buying large parts of Oxford Street and the Trocadero centre.[5] However, a poor deal with Sega in the creation of SegaWorld as an anchor tenant meant the company went through some difficult times.[6]
Prestbury
In 1997, Leslau and Wray set up their own small property company Maybeat Limited, which they merged into one of Michael Edelson's Alternative Investment Market listed shell companies called Prestbury Group plc.
The board consisted of Leslau, Wray, Viscount Astor, John Hodson (the then chief executive of private bank Singer & Friedlander) and Edelson. Over the next two years it produced a return of 150% on Net Asset Value and Leslau grew its total value to several hundreds of millions of pounds before taking it private in 2004.
Knutsford
In 1999, Leslau set up an investment vehicle, Edenhawk, together with Wray, Archie Norman and Julian Richer. Once again, they merged the company into an Edelson shell company, Knutsford Plc. The intention was to acquire a retail business to take advantage of the retailing skills of Norman, a former Chairman of Asda, and Richer, who had built up the retail group Richer Sounds. Within weeks the value of Knutsford had soared to £1 billion, attracting attention from financial media around the world as potential acquisition targets were touted by the media such as Marks & Spencers and Sainsburys. The overly speculative valuation was far in excess of anything the "Knutsford 4" and Edelson had anticipated and was in fact becoming problematic particularly because it proved a major stumbling block to concluding any deal. Although Knutsford eventually concluded a deal with WI Link (which continues to trade successfully), it could never hope to achieve the dizzy expectations generated by the media in the weeks after flotation.
Knutsford is cited as a case history in a number of business schools and is considered to have been the end of the dot com boom in the UK.[7]
In February 2001 Leslau set up private company, Prestbury Investment Holdings, funded by HBOS and Sir Tom Hunter, with whom he has since done a number of Scotland-based joint ventures with Hunter's West Coast Capital.[5] Leslau is now chairman and chief executive of PIHL, with the company presently owning a property portfolio estimated to be worth in excess of £4 billion, including four of the UK's largest entertainment complexes run by Merlin Entertainments (Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Warwick Castle and Madame Tussauds).[5][6][8]
Leslau and his business partner Wray bought a Citation X plane in 2004.[6]
Personal life
Leslau and his wife Maxine live in a £30 million property in Mayfair, London. The couple have three sons, and own a Mediterranean-based superyacht. Leslau owns one of W.G. Grace's cricket bats as part of his extensive sports memorabilia collection and is a part owner of Saracens F.C. Rugby Union club.[6]
In early 2008, Leslau took part in the Channel 4 programme Secret Millionaire, giving away £400,000 in a ten-day visit to Possil, Glasgow.[9][10]
References
- ↑ Researcha
- 1 2 "Nick Leslau". London: Sunday Times. 27 April 2008. Retrieved 26 August 2008.
- ↑ "Property tycoons who owe billions". London: Sunday Times. 13 November 2006. Retrieved 26 August 2008.
- ↑ "Interview with Nick Leslau". Mischon. Summer 2008. Retrieved 26 August 2008.
- 1 2 3 4 Kemp, Kenny (10 February 2002). "How the Westway was won by tycoon". Sunday Herald. Retrieved 26 August 2008.
- 1 2 3 4 "Nick Leslau: 'I'm rich, but does anyone like me?'". London: Daily Telegraph. 19 August 2008. Retrieved 26 August 2008.
- ↑ "Interview with Archie Norman". management Today. 3 September 2007. Archived from the original on 9 October 2007. Retrieved 26 August 2008.
- ↑ "Merlin sells Alton Towers in £622m deal". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 30 July 2007.
- ↑ "Nick Leslau". Channel 4. Retrieved 26 August 2008.
- ↑ "Exclusive: The property tycoon who gave away £400,000 to Possil's poorest after undercover mission". Daily Record. 14 August 2008. Retrieved 26 August 2008.