David Rowland (property developer)

David John Rowland (born 1945) is a British property developer. According to The Sunday Times Rich List in 2019, he is worth £612 million.[1] He is nicknamed 'Spotty'.[2][3] The Rowland family is an investment adviser to Prince Andrew, Duke of York.[4]

For the American industrial designer, see David Rowland. For the Welsh author, see David Rowland (translator).

David John Rowland
Born (1945-06-16) 16 June 1945
NationalityBritish
OccupationProperty developer
Known forConservative Party Treasurer
Net worth GB£612 million (Sunday Times Rich List, 2019)
Children8

Early life

David Rowland was born in 1945 to the family of a scrap metal dealer.[3]

Business activities

Rowland established Fordham Investment Group in 1965.[5] In 1970, he sold his stake in Fordham for £2.4 million, and moved to France.[6] In 1970s, he took control of the shipping company Williams Hudson and the timber group Venesta International through Argo Caribbean Group Limited, a Bahamian company controlled by the trustees of a Rowland's family settlement.[7]

In 1989, Rowland acquired 34% interest in Idaho-based Gulf Resources & Chemical Corporation from the Barclay brothers.[3][8][9] A controlling stake was bought through a property company Inoco Plc., which was controlled by a Panama-based company, Monaco Group Fund S.A., an entity which was at that time governed by "trustees of settlements whose beneficiaries are Rowland and his children".[9] Rowland himself became CEO of Gulf Resources.[9][10] In 1991, Inoco sold its stake to Nycal Corporation.[11][12] Over the following years, Gulf resorted to the American courts to recover company monies they alleged were spent by David Rowland, firstly via the courts[13] and then via their insurance company.[14] One case was settled (though no financial settlement was deemed necessary), while Gulf lost another.

In 2009, Kaupthing Bank Luxembourg, affected by the global liquidity squeeze, was divided into two new entities, a 'good, healthy' bank, later renamed Banque Havilland, and a 'bad' bank. David Rowland and his son Jonathan, via their investment company Blackfish Capital, acquired and recapitalized the former and now manage the assets, on behalf of the interbank creditors, of the latter.[15][4]

Redwood Financial Partners, a company controlled by David Rowland and his son Jonathan Rowland, own Redwood Bank, which became operational in 2017.[16][17][18] At the same year, David Rowland and his son Edmund Rowland, through their investment company Staunton Holdings Ltd, made a takeover bid for the Falkland Islands-based FIH group.[19] The takeover failed and their stake in the company was sold.[20]

According to the Panama Papers, Rowland also owned offshore companies Asherton Ltd, Binbrook Ltd, Coalburn Ltd, and Docking Ltd, among others.[21]

Football issues

In 1988, Rowland helped fund a lawyer, David Duff, in a failed takeover of Edinburgh Hibernian, parent company of Scottish Premier Division football club Hibernian. Eventually the company went into receivership.[22]

In 2013, Rowland-owned Fordham Sports Management Ltd. acquired Manchester City's top players' image rights.[23]

Conservative Party

In the year before the 2010 United Kingdom general election, Rowland donated £2.8m to the Conservative Party, making him the party's major donor.[6] In 2010, he was announced as being the next Treasurer of the Conservative Party. After this announcement, the Daily Mail published a series of articles that were critical of him.[6] After public criticism of his former status as a tax exile, Rowland resigned before taking the position.[24] Rowland had lived in Guernsey, but returned to full United Kingdom residency in order to make donations to the Conservatives.[24] Electoral law in the United Kingdom prohibits foreign donations to political parties.[24][6] In August 2010, Rowland made another donation of £1 million to the Conservative Party.[25] In May 2017, he gave £200,000 to the Conservative Party.[26]

Personal life

Rowland moved from London to Paris at the age of 24, then Monte Carlo, Monaco, and finally Guernsey, where he has lived since at least 2005.[3][6] He lives at Havilland Hall, the largest privately owned estate on the island, where in 2005, Prince Andrew unveiled a life-size bronze statue of Rowland smoking a cigar in a "vaguely Churchillian pose".[6]

He has eight children.[27][28]

References
  1. Times, The Sunday (12 May 2019). "Rich List 2019: profiles 201-249=". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  2. Cassy, John (7 January 2000). "Who put the whiz into Jellyworks kid?". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  3. Cassy, John (16 July 2010). "David Rowland: City wheeler-dealer back from exile". Money Week. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  4. Croft, Jane (9 October 2017). "Former Conservative party treasurer wins Luxembourg bank case". Financial Times. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  5. "Wright v Rowland & Anor". England and Wales High Court (Commercial Court). October 2017. Retrieved 30 April 2019 – via Casemine.com.
  6. Lewis, Paul; Evans, Rob (20 August 2010). "David Rowland: Multimillionaire who courted controversy throughout his rise". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  7. "The Consolidated Signal Company Limited/Venesta International Limited" (PDF). Takeover Panel. 6 January 1972. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  8. Kramer, Becky (14 July 2010). "Ex-Bunker Hill exec enters British politics". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  9. Massey, Steve (4 June 1995). "The Collapse Of Gulf Two Blamed For Toxic Legacy Financiers Accused Of Draining Gulf, Leaving Taxpayers, Retirees With Bills". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  10. Waldman, Peter (12 November 2018). "The EPA Can't Wait to Reopen the Mine That Poisoned North Idaho". Bloomberg. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  11. "Nycal Corp. v. Inoco PLC". United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. 12 December 1997. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  12. Massey, Steve (5 June 1995). "The Collapse Of Gulf Gulf Goes For Broke With Our Money Taxpayers, Pensioners Left With Polluted Land, Escalating Bills". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  13. "Gulf USA vs. David Rowland 1997/8". Romingerlegal.com. Archived from the original on 11 March 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  14. "Gulf USA vs. Federal Insurance 2001". Ftp.resource.org. Archived from the original on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  15. Ruddick, Graham (13 July 2009). "Rowland family open new bank". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  16. Dunkley, Emma (29 August 2017). "Challenger bank backed by council up and running". Financial Times. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  17. Davidson, Lauren (16 October 2016). "Redwood, a challenger bank founded by the Rowland family, seeks FCA approval". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  18. Martin, Ben (10 April 2017). "Challenger bank Redwood secures banking licence and £30m council investment". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  19. Burgess, Kate (26 March 2017). "Falklands battle more likely than Unilever to prompt shift on UK takeover". Financial Times. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  20. "American trust becomes largest single shareholder of FIH". MercoPress. 3 May 2017. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  21. Watt, Holly (4 April 2016). "Tory donors' links to offshore firms revealed in leaked Panama Papers". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  22. "Hibs chairman's revolution ended in club being open to hostile bid". The Scotsman. 2 October 2010. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  23. Bergin, Tom; Bryan-Low, Cassell (6 November 2018). "Special Report: Soccer club Man City boosted finances through creative plays, documents show". Reuters. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  24. Allegra Stratton and Haroon Siddique (19 August 2010). "David Rowland: red faces at Tory HQ as next treasurer quits". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  25. The Time – David Rowland gives more than 1m to Conservative Party – 27 August 2010
  26. Cahill, Helen (18 May 2017). "Party donors: Here are the big names bank-rolling the Conservative campaign". cityam.com. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  27. "British Tycoon Enters Swiss Private Banking". finews.com. 27 May 2016. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  28. Croft, Jane (11 July 2017). "Publicity-shy multimillionaire denies bank deal on yacht". Financial Times. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
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