Shaid Luqman: Pearl Holdings (Europe) Ltd

Shaid Luqman
Age: 35
Company: Pearl Holdings (Europe) Ltd

Soon after he and co-founder Ben Goor sold the business to advertising giant Clear Channel. Having served an earn-out, Cox started Ocean Outdoor in 2004, which has grown to post revenues of more than £17m in 2011, following investment of £5.7m from Smedvig Capital two years’ earlier. Cox himself left the board in 2010 to pursue other business interests, which included starting outdoor advertising consultancy Wildstone in 2011. Meanwhile, Ocean Outdoor was bought by When MPs, Premiership football stars and prominent entrepreneurs want to build their property portfolios, they go to Luqman. The company, set up in 2000 and with bases in Manchester, London, Switzerland and Saudi Arabia, provides bridging finance in situations where banks would not be able to move fast enough. The pipeline of deals and finance to back clients’ purchases comes from the high-street banks however, with £150m from a syndicate led by Barclays Bank and a stepped drawdown of £500m for the next two years. Turnover to December 2004 should hit £30m, following £18m last year, with profits of £23.4m. Next year Luqman expects profits of £59m from a £95m turnover. This helps explain why one investment bank offered £350m for the business earlier this year.  management for £35m in 2012.

2016 update:

By 2006, Lexi Holdings was purported to be worth £300m, with Luqman’s personal wealth estimated at £250m. Soon after, Lexi went into administration and Luqman was convicted of fraud for diverting millions into the accounts of family members in Pakistan. He was able to flee to Pakistan before he was charged, where he now resides.