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Andrew Regan

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Andrew Regan
Born (1965-12-14) 14 December 1965 (age 58)
Manchester, England, UK
NationalityBritish
OccupationEntrepreneur
EmployerCorvus Capital
TitleChief Executive Officer
ChildrenEight

Andrew Regan (born 14 December 1965, in Manchester, England) is a British-born polar explorer[1][2] and entrepreneur. He is the chief executive officer of Corvus Capital, an investment company.[3]

Career

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Hobson

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Early in his career, Regan ran a household products business, Cadismark, which was sold to Hobson plc in 1991.[4][5] Following the sale, he became the chief executive of Hobson, which was listed on the London Stock Exchange. In 1994, Hobson acquired F.E. Barber, the food and drinks manufacturing operation of the Co-operative Wholesale Society.[5][6]

Regan was responsible for developing the Loyd Grossman range of sauces which were manufactured by F.E. Barber. After rationalising the operation, Hobson was acquired in 1996 by Hillsdown Holdings for £154 million, through a recommended cash takeover.[4]

Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS)

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In 1997 Regan led an attempt to gain control of the CWS in a £1.2 billion take-over bid which was rejected. As part of its bid defence, the CWS carried out an investigation into former dealings between certain CWS executives and Regan.[7] In 1995 Regan had authorised the transfer of £2.4 m from F.E. Barber which he maintained he provided to an intermediary as a brokerage fee for successfully resolving the deadlock between the CWS and Hobson in negotiations about extending a food supply contract; the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) maintained that the transfer was used by the intermediary to provide a bribe to two senior CWS executives in order to extend the contract.[7]

Regan's first trial resulted, in 2002, in a hung jury and a retrial was ordered. This retrial in 2003, ended when a juror alleged he was approached by an unknown party.[8][9][10] At the second retrial (also in 2003), Regan was acquitted with the judge noting that he was minded to order the SFO to pay Regan's defence costs.[9] In 2005, the Co-operative Group (successor to the CWS) received what it described as a "substantial payment" as part of an out-of-court settlement with Regan and others in a civil case relating to the accusations.[6][11]

ASOS plc

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Regan was the original financier behind the online fashion retailer ASOS plc, which is now the UK's largest independent online fashion retailer.[12][13] As Seen on Screen, as it was then known at listing, was reversed into Brindle Limited, a shell company created by a consortium of fellow Monaco investors that included Nigel Robertson.[14] The AIM listing raised only £255,000 (£95,000 after expenses) and had a market capitalisation of £12m when listed on the AIM Market in 2001, growing to £4.36bn in 2017.[15]

Corvus Capital

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Regan became the chief executive officer of Corvus Capital, an international investment company, in 2004 - a position he still assumes.[4] Corvus was established to identify assets or companies which are either underperforming or undervalued. The management team attempt to acquire or tactically reposition such companies in order to realise potential value. Corvus Capital, Inc. was listed in the UK on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market (AIM)[3] before it was taken private in December 2008. [16]

Corvus founded Lodore Resources, an AIM-listed investment company formed in 2004 with the intention to build a group specialising in the oil and gas sector.[3] The company listed with a market capitalisation of £6.4 million, and after building a group with its assets principally in the United States. In 2005 the company was acquired for a total consideration of £115.0 million. Other Corvus investments included, amongst others, Commoditrade and Gable Holdings.[3]

Regan has been involved in several start-up companies including Imperial Energy, an upstream oil and gas exploration and production company focused on the Commonwealth of Independent States and, in particular, the Russian Federation. The company was floated on AIM in 2004 at 25p per share and moved to the Official List in 2007. In 2008, Imperial was acquired by ONGC Videsh of India for £1.3 billion (1,125 pence per share).[17]

Academia

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In 2014, Regan was awarded a PhD from Oxford Brookes University's Faculty of Technology, Design and Environment. His thesis was "A system to predict the S&P 500 using a bio-inspired algorithm."[18][19]

Polar travel

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North Pole

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Regan visited the Geographic North Pole for the first time in 2004. In April 2008 he returned, completing an expedition on foot with three of his children[20] to raise awareness about climate change. His latest visit was in 2014, taking the total number of times he has reached the pole to three.[21]

Ice Challenger 05

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In 2005, he led the Ice Challenger Expedition, a world record attempt for the fastest overland crossing to the South Pole.[22] The six-man Ice Challenger team completed the 1,200 km route in 69 hours, breaking the previous world record of 24 days (576 hours).[23] The expedition aimed to increase awareness of global warming. The entire team wanted to highlight the impact of climate change on the Antarctic, to the rest of the world.[22]

Moon-Regan TransAntarctic Expedition

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Regan returned to Antarctica in November 2010, leading the Moon Regan TransAntarctic Expedition.[1] The 10-man expedition team completed the first ever there-and-back crossing of Antarctica, a journey of some 4,000 km, in 23 days. They travelled from Patriot Hills on the west coast to the South Pole, heading north from there through the Trans-Antarctic Mountains, down the Leverett Glacier and off the coastline onto the Ross Ice Shelf.[24]

Winston Wong, a prominent Taiwanese businessman and alumnus of Imperial College London, was the main sponsor to the expedition. The Winston Wong Bio-Inspired Ice Vehicle was the lead vehicle in the expedition and was the first ever bio-fuelled vehicle to reach the Geographic South Pole.[25] The WWBIV is currently on display at the Magic School for Green Technology at the National Cheng Kung University in Tainen.[26]

The expedition partnered with Imperial College London, to carry out scientific experiments in Antarctica.[27]

Personal life

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Regan was born in Manchester and has eight children.[28]

References

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  1. ^ a b Moon-Regan Trans Antarctic Expedition. "Moon-Regan Trans Antarctic Expedition".
  2. ^ Unknown (9 December 2010). "UK team claims fastest land crossing of Antarctica". BBC News (Press release). Antarctica.
  3. ^ a b c d Bland, Ben (3 September 2007). "Aim profile: Andrew Regan". The Telegraph (Press release). London. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  4. ^ a b c "Andrew Regan - Chief Executive". corvus.com. Archived from the original on 10 October 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  5. ^ a b Russel Hotten (29 April 1994). "Hobson to buy Co-op's food producer for £111m: Regan to triple size of household products company". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022.
  6. ^ a b "Regan matter is now closed". The Grocer. 5 March 2005. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
  7. ^ a b "Andrew Regan acquitted of theft of £2.4 million" (Press release). Serious Fraud Office. 6 August 2003. Archived from the original on 11 December 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2008.
  8. ^ "SFO under fire after Regan acquitted in Co-op theft case". The Independent (Press release). 6 August 2003. Retrieved 15 July 2010. The second trial, earlier this year, was halted amid suggestions that the jury might have been subject to improper approaches by an unknown party.[dead link]
  9. ^ a b Aldrick, Philip (7 August 2003). "Regan walks free but faces Co-op challenge". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
  10. ^ Tomlinson, Heather (10 August 2003). "The Thing Is: Andrew Regan". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 1 December 2013. Retrieved 11 January 2008.
  11. ^ "Regan's out-of-court settlement with Co-op Group". Co-operative News. 18 February 2005. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  12. ^ Nick Robertson was anticipating a bumper Christmas for online fashion retailer Asos (18 December 2005). "Boom time to... Buncefield". The Guardian. London.
  13. ^ Fletcher, Richard (20 June 2011). "With no shopping list in sight putting money in Vallares is more a gamble than an investment". The Daily Telegraph. London. For example ASOS, the online fashion retailer and stock market darling, was brought to the market by financier Andrew Regan, who reversed it into a shell.
  14. ^ Richard Fletcher (6 June 2014). "Darling of the dotcoms was a born survivor". thetimes.co.uk/. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
  15. ^ Based on SP of 52.25 GBp. "London Stock Exchange Website". Retrieved 16 February 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ "Dr Andrew Regan". Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  17. ^ "Archives Top and Latest News". mint. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  18. ^ "Graduate College Newsletter. Issue 4". brookes.ac.uk. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  19. ^ Andrew J. Regan (2014). A system to predict the S&P 500 using a bio-inspired algorithm (PhD thesis). Oxford Brookes University.
  20. ^ Andrew Regan travels to North Pole with Three of his children. "Junior Polar Traveller". Archived from the original on 21 June 2009.
  21. ^ Beltran, Luisa (16 April 2014). "MVision's Guen risks extreme cold, polar bears for North Pole trip" (Press release). PEHUB.com. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  22. ^ a b Concepts, Voyage. "Ice Challenger - World Record for the fastest overland crossing to South Pole". Archived from the original on 28 November 2006. Retrieved 6 December 2006.
  23. ^ Guinness world records 2008. London: Guinness World Records. 2007. p. 97. ISBN 978-1-904994-18-3. OCLC 174109903.
  24. ^ Moon-Regan Trans Antarctic Expedition route. "Moon-Regan Trans Antarctic Expedition expedition route".
  25. ^ Winston Wong Bio-Inspired Ice Vehicle. "Winston Wong Bio-Inspired Ice Vehicle".
  26. ^ Winston Wong Bio-Inspired Ice Vehicle. "Winston Wong Bio-Inspired Ice Vehicle".[permanent dead link]
  27. ^ Imperial College London Article (11 June 2010). "Imperial College London Article".
  28. ^ "Future". Ice Challenger Expedition. Archived from the original on 14 March 2008. Retrieved 19 March 2008. 'I've got six kids.'
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