Paul Kemsley - Biography

Paul Zeital Kemsley (born August 1967 in Stanmore, Middlesex), is an English businessman. He is best known as a property developer, and to sports fans as a former Vice-Chairman of Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur, and as Chairman of the revived New York Cosmos.

Biography

He was educated at Atholl School in Rayners Lane, Harrow. At the age of 15 Kemsley worked on Saturdays at John Paul Menswear, which led him to meeting Mike Ashley, who opened his first Sports World equipment outlet across the road. They would play darts for money on quiet afternoons.

Kemsley left school in 1984, at the age of 17, and began working at Gross Fine as a junior surveyor. Then, from 1985 to 1992, Kemsley worked as an agent at the commercial real-estate firm Ross Jaye. In 1992, he decided to leave and join his old friend Ashley at Sports Direct where he helped to expand the group.

By 1995, Kemsley wanted to start his own business and he established a property and securities company with "the £1,800 he had left in his pocket." This was Rock Joint Ventures Ltd, formed with Joe Lewis of ENIC Group, a British investment company, and Spurs chairman Daniel Levy. Rock was an investor and developer of commercial and residential property, but specialized in land trading. It also had a private hedge fund that specialized in acquiring strategic stakes in public companies, the most well-known being their 28% share in Countryside Properties plc in 2004, which they sold to the chairman for a profit of £12 million.

By 2007, Rock's property portfolio was valued at £750 million. Lewis parted from the company around that time. It set up a joint venture with HBOS to build a £1bn property portfolio. However, in the wake of the financial crisis of 2007–2010, Rock was placed into administration in June 2009, ending Kemsley's involvement. The administrator PwC began selling the major properties of the portfolio, which included the Selhurst Park stadium, in October 2009.

Kemsley is known as a close friend of Mike Ashley, David Pearl, Sir Philip Green and Sir Alan Sugar. It was through his friendship with Sugar that Kemsley played a part in the ENIC/Levy partnership's purchase of a majority share holding in Tottenham Hotspur. Kemsley later appeared as one of Sir Alan's interviewer/advisors on the UK BBC edition of The Apprentice from 2005 to 2008.

Kemsley is well known as an aggressive player in the property business. In his most successful property deal he bought 27-35 Poultry, an office block in the City of London, for £40 million in May 2006. He then sold it within five months to a former Russian government minister for £72 million. He has developed successful investments in various online betting operators including Party Gaming, Chinese-licensed Betex, and AIM-quoted FUN Technologies.

His personal wealth was estimated at £180 million in the Sunday Times Rich List 2008. However, in September 2008 he placed a series of large bets that doomed US bank Lehman Brothers would recover, and in May 2009 the spread betting company Spreadex took legal action against him, claiming that he was liable to pay a margin call of £2 million.

he is in New York, leading a bold attempt to relaunch the New York Cosmos soccer club. In August 2010, he became the Chairman, with soccer legend and former Cosmos star Pelé as Honorary President. In January 2011, he appointed former Manchester United player Eric Cantona as Director Of Soccer.

In October, 2011 he resigned from his post as Chairmen of the New York Cosmos to pursue other business ventures.

Personal life

He is married to Loretta (née Gold) from Portsmouth. The couple have three children and were living in Radlett, Hertfordshire in 2007, but have since moved to America. He actively supports various charitable causes.

External links

• Spurs vice-chairman Kemsley quits at BBC News Online, 17 October 2007