Joe Lewis (British businessman)
Joe Lewis (born February 5, 1937 in East London) is an English businessman who currently lives in Lyford Cay, Bahamas.
Lewis' total wealth is estimated at $3.2 billion, and he is listed as the 347th richest person of Forbes’ List of billionaires (2011).[1] The Sunday Times’ Rich List 2011 reports Lewis is the 22nd wealthiest person in Britain, worth £2.8 billion.[2]
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[edit] Early life
Born above a public house in Roman Road, Bow, London,[3] Lewis left school at 15 to help run his father's West End of London catering business Tavistock Banqueting, starting out as a waiter. When he took the reins he quickly expanded it by selling luxury goods to American tourists, and also owned West End nightclub the Hanover Grand, where he gave Robert Earl his first job.[3] He later sold the business in 1979 to make his initial wealth.
[edit] Currency trading
After selling the family business in the late 70s, Lewis moved into currency trading in the 1980s and 1990s, resulting in his move to the Bahamas where he is now a tax exile.[3] In September 1992, Lewis teamed up with George Soros to bet on the pound crashing out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. The event, which was dubbed Black Wednesday, made Lewis very wealthy, and some say he made more than Soros.[4][5]
[edit] Tavistock Group
Lewis is the main investor in Tavistock Group, which owns more than 175 companies in 15 countries. Tavistock Group's portfolio includes:
- Life sciences
- Sports teams: Tottenham Hotspur via ENIC Group. Formerly owned stakes in Glasgow Rangers F.C. and Slavia Prague.[3]
- Sporting events: Tavistock Cup, Isleworth Collegiate Invitational
- Manufacturing and distribution: KangaROOS, Gottex
- Oil, gas and energy: BayCorp, Pampa Energia
- Financial services: Bear Stearns; 10% stake in Icelandic MP Bank[6][7]
- Restaurants: Freebirds World Burrito, Mitchells & Butlers plc, Zed451
- Commercial property: Tamar Capital, Bulgarian Property Development
- Private luxury residential property: Isleworth Golf & Country Club, Lake Nona Golf & Country Club, Old Fort Bay
- Resort property: Albany, Harmony Cove, The St. Regis Atlanta
[edit] Property
Lewis hosts the Tavistock Cup tournament every March in Florida, raising millions of dollars for charity, and owns three of the four clubs that compete: Albany, Lake Nona Golf & Country Club and Isleworth Golf & Country Club. Lewis recently finished building a new golf community in the Bahamas called Albany, which opened October 2010. Woods and Els are also major shareholders in the luxury resort community located in New Providence. A 71-slip mega-yacht marina, an Els-designed championship golf course, a luxury boutique hotel, water park, kids' clubhouse, adult pool, spa and fitness center, and a variety of restaurants and bars are among the amenities Albany offers. In February 2011, Lewis purchased the St. Regis Atlanta, a 26-floor development with 151 guest rooms and suites and 53 residences located in Atlanta's Buckhead community.[8][9]
Lewis made a £70 million investment in Bulgarian property development.[10]
[edit] Lake Nona
Lewis has been bringing biotechnology and new healthcare offerings to Central Florida. With his philanthropic support, Tavistock Group’s 7,000-acre (28 km2) Lake Nona master plan development is an emerging biomedical research and educational hub highlighted by the University of Central Florida College of Medicine and Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute at Lake Nona. Construction is underway on Nemours Children’s Hospital, one of the nation's largest children's health systems, as well as the Orlando Veterans Affairs Medical Center, which will serve Central Florida’s 400,000 veterans. Both Lake Nona facilities are scheduled to open in 2012. In addition, the University of Florida announced its plans to build a Lake Nona academic and research center, which will house a Comprehensive Drug Development Center, the UF College of Pharmacy doctoral program and biomedical research laboratories.
[edit] Escondido Lake
Since Lewis bought a property in Río Negro Province, Argentina, public access to Escondido lake has been under discussion, because nobody likes to have people transiting in your own property. The Argentine law asserts that every water course is public and of free access. Lewis' property encircles the lake. While some have called for another public mountain trail to be built to access the lake, El Consejo de Ecología y Medio Ambiente de Río Negro (the Council of Ecology and Environment of Río Negro) does not support building another pass, which would cause harm to the environmentally protected area.
[edit] Bear Stearns
On 10 September 2007, Lewis paid US$860.4 million in an all-cash purchase of a 7% stake in Bear Stearns.[11] By December 2007 Lewis had raised his stake at the brokerage firm to 9.4%, a total of 11 million shares, for which he paid an average price of $107 apiece.[12] After the purchase of Bear Stearns by JP Morgan for $10 a share, it was estimated that Lewis lost $1.16 billion dollars on his investment.[3][13][14]
[edit] Mitchells & Butlers
Lewis is the largest shareholder of British public house group Mitchells & Butlers, now controlling 23% of the issued share capital through his investment vehicle Piedmont, which he built up since 2008.[15] It was reported on 27 August 2011 that Lewis had made a zero premium proposal for the pub group of 224p a share. He later revealed on 12 September 2011 that he was considering raising his earlier offer to 230p a share, a 4.5% premium. However, independent M&B board members rejected the offer as "significantly undervaluing" the business. Lewis was reported to have told friends, after the July 2011 trading update which saw like-for-like sales growth slowing, that his stake would be better protected if the company was controlled by him.[16][17]
[edit] Personal life
Lewis has been married twice, and has two children from his first marriage. He owns the superyacht Aviva, which he uses as his personal mobile office. It contains his art collection, estimated to be worth $200M.
[edit] References
- ^ Joe Lewis - Forbes, Forbes.com. Retrieved May 2011.
- ^ Jones, Simon. "22. Joe Lewis: £2.8 billion - Sunday Times Rich List 2011". MSN Money. http://money.uk.msn.com/news/rich-lists/photos.aspx?cp-documentid=157329311&page=4.
- ^ a b c d e Richard Luscombe/David Teather (22 March 2008). "The East Ender who blew a billion dollars in a day". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/mar/22/creditcrunch.moneyinvestments. Retrieved 1 October 2011.
- ^ Bowers, Simon (2007-09-14). "Profile: Joe Lewis". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/sep/14/2.
- ^ "Billionaires: March 2011 - Profile: Joe Lewis". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/profile/joe-lewis.
- ^ Valdimarsson, Omar R. (2011-04-07). "Lewis, Rowland, Acquire Stakes in MP Bank, Vidskiptabladid Says". Bloomberg. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-07/lewis-rowland-acquire-stakes-in-mp-bank-vidskiptabladid-says.html.
- ^ "Group of Investors Buys Iceland’s MP Bank". Iceland Review Online. http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=29314&ew_0_a_id=376554.
- ^ Krista Zilizi (2011-02-16). "TAVISTOCK GROUP ACQUIRES THE ST. REGIS ATLANTA". Tavistock Group Press Release. http://www.tavistock.com/assets/xl3ylp45migql5ut0l3qsi45_STREGISTGROUPRELEASE21611.pdf. Retrieved 2011-10-03.
- ^ Michael Gerrity (2011-02-18). "Tavistock Acquires Atlanta's Trophy St. Regis Hotel and Residences". World Property Channel. http://www.worldpropertychannel.com/us-markets/vacation-leisure-real-estate-1/tavistock-group-joe-lewis-atlanta-st-regis-hotel-st-regis-residences-douglas-e-mcmahon-starwood-hotels-and-resorts-conde-nast-traveler-isleworth-lake-nona-3910.php. Retrieved 2011-10-03.
- ^ Jenny Davey (2007-09-27). "Joe Lewis takes aim at Bulgaria". London: The Sunday Times. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/construction_and_property/article2510919.ece. Retrieved 2008-03-14.
- ^ "Bear Stearns Gains on Speculation About Stake Sale (Update5)". Bloomberg. 2007-09-26. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aasVn8g.o2Js&refer=home.
- ^ "Lewis, Barrow Hanley Lose Combined $2 Billion on Bear (Update2)". Bloomberg. 2008-03-17. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601213&sid=aIOoem3ab3bo&refer=home.
- ^ Bryan-Low, Cassell (2008-03-17). "A Stake Through the Heart". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120571021671940207.html.
- ^ http://www.digitalalchemy.tv/2008/03/joseph-lewis-lost-1-billion-in-bear.html
- ^ Jenny Davey (2011-09-18). "Mitchells & Butlers: the giant pub company with no one to call 'time'". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/sep/18/mitchells-butlers-no-one-to-call-time. Retrieved 2011-09-24.
- ^ Simon Bowers (2011-09-25). "Mitchells & Butlers chief had closer links with bidder Joe Lewis". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/sep/25/mitchells-butlers-jeremy-blood-joe-lewis. Retrieved 2011-09-25.
- ^ Roger Blitz and Christopher Thompson. "M&B rejects offer from Piedmont". Financial Times. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ea6c3574-dd71-11e0-b6db-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1YzH8R5mm. Retrieved 2011-09-25.
