http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/mar/14/joelewis.bearstearns
Some you win, some you lose. That's speculation. And there aren't many bigger speculators out there than Bahamas-based Joe "the Boxer" Lewis, the legendary British currency trader who is estimated to be sitting on paper losses of $750m (£375m) following his counter-intuitive punt last autumn on troubled Bear Stearns.
Among its "big five" investment banking peer group on Wall Street, Bear Stearns was well known as having the largest exposure to sub-prime mortgages. And when the US housing market began to tumble, its shares quickly followed. Despite the stock having lost a quarter of its value in four months, Lewis invested £425m to take an 8% stake last September.
It was a bold move to call the bottom of the sub-prime crisis, from one of the canniest and most influential traders in the world. But he could not have been more wrong.
Lewis had not caused that much of a stir since he teamed up with a pack of speculators, including George Soros, to bet on the pound crashing out of the European exchange rate mechanism - which it did 15 years ago.
Black Wednesday, in 1992, cost the Treasury an estimated £3.4bn and generated fortunes for the Bahamas-based currency trader and the others. Some even maintain the rags-to-riches British tax exile scooped more than Soros.
Now 70 years old, Lewis is best known in the UK for having taken interests in Tottenham Hotspur and Rangers football clubs. Last month reports emerged that he was the mystery buyer who had built a 7% stake in British bookmaker Ladbrokes. Conducting operations from his Bahamas mansion - with currency trading screens in almost every room - he guards his privacy meticulously.
"He doesn't like to talk to people," his daughter Vivienne once explained. "It aggravates him." Aware of the value he puts on his privacy, few within the currency trading world will talk openly about Lewis, known to many as the Boxer after his near-namesake, heavyweight champion Joe Louis.
In a rare interview nine years ago, he told the New York Times: "One of the rewards of your success is the quiet enjoyment of it. Being on the front page of newspapers doesn't allow that."
That quiet determination, however, has served him well. "You don't get to be a wise old guy in the FX [foreign exchange] market without being a real shrewdie," said one senior City figure who used to do business with him. "Not many can survive that long."
Lewis, who retains something of his Cockney accent, was born above the Roman Arms pub in Bow, in the heart of London's East End, and left school at 15 to help run Tavistock Banqueting, his father's West End catering business, starting out as a waiter.
For a time, it hosted a lot of masonic functions before expanding in the 70s to target American tourists, laying on a high-kitsch "medieval banqueting" experience. Also working for Tavistock was Robert Earl, who, with Lewis's backing, later went on to develop the themed restaurant idea into the Hard Rock Cafe and Planet Hollywood franchises.
Entrepreneurial zeal made Lewis a multimillionaire when he sold the family catering business in 1979, relocating to the Bahamas. But instead of resting on his laurels, he reinvented himself as a currency trader and made hugely successful bets not only against the pound in 1992, but also against the Mexican peso three years later. It was these jackpots that signalled to the world that Lewis was a lot more than a retired British leisure magnate lazing in the sun.
Quite how he developed such trading aptitude is not clear, but testimony to his powers can be found in the fortunes amassed by his many proteges. They include the Monaco-based Englishman Michael Tabor as well as Irishmen JP McManus, Dermot Desmond and John Magnier - best known as former Manchester United investors.
Outside the currency world, Lewis's fortune is put to work through Tavistock Group, a private equity business named after his father's catering firm and run out of his second home, a mansion in a Florida gated community which is itself another Lewis investment.
Lewis's total wealth is impossible to assess, particularly his fortune from currency trading. He was named the richest man in Britain in the mid-90s (despite his tax exile status), and estimates this year put his fortune at £2.8bn.
In the UK his chief lieutenant is Daniel Levy, best known as the controversial chairman at Tottenham Hotspur. Levy, the son of the Mr Byrite discount clothing chain founder, has used his sponsor's backing to build a name in the City, pursuing some well-timed investments. Other not-so-successful investments include aborted attempts to take over Christie's, the auction house, Victor Chandler, the offshore bookmaker, and Wembley stadium.
There has always been media interest around the football investments but Lewis has shown little interest in the sport. His preference is for tennis, sailing and golf, where he sponsors the Tavistock Cup. His golfing friends include Tiger Woods - whom he once partnered after paying £1.4m at a charity auction for the privilege - Ernie Els and fellow tax exile Sean Connery.
Lewis remains fit, playing off a handicap of 12 or 13. He is said, on occasion, to leave his younger executives breathless as he hops from fairway to tennis court.
Some you win, some you lose. That's speculation. And there aren't many bigger speculators out there than Bahamas-based Joe "the Boxer" Lewis, the legendary British currency trader who is estimated to be sitting on paper losses of $750m (£375m) following his counter-intuitive punt last autumn on troubled Bear Stearns.
Among its "big five" investment banking peer group on Wall Street, Bear Stearns was well known as having the largest exposure to sub-prime mortgages. And when the US housing market began to tumble, its shares quickly followed. Despite the stock having lost a quarter of its value in four months, Lewis invested £425m to take an 8% stake last September.
It was a bold move to call the bottom of the sub-prime crisis, from one of the canniest and most influential traders in the world. But he could not have been more wrong.
Lewis had not caused that much of a stir since he teamed up with a pack of speculators, including George Soros, to bet on the pound crashing out of the European exchange rate mechanism - which it did 15 years ago.
Black Wednesday, in 1992, cost the Treasury an estimated £3.4bn and generated fortunes for the Bahamas-based currency trader and the others. Some even maintain the rags-to-riches British tax exile scooped more than Soros.
Now 70 years old, Lewis is best known in the UK for having taken interests in Tottenham Hotspur and Rangers football clubs. Last month reports emerged that he was the mystery buyer who had built a 7% stake in British bookmaker Ladbrokes. Conducting operations from his Bahamas mansion - with currency trading screens in almost every room - he guards his privacy meticulously.
"He doesn't like to talk to people," his daughter Vivienne once explained. "It aggravates him." Aware of the value he puts on his privacy, few within the currency trading world will talk openly about Lewis, known to many as the Boxer after his near-namesake, heavyweight champion Joe Louis.
In a rare interview nine years ago, he told the New York Times: "One of the rewards of your success is the quiet enjoyment of it. Being on the front page of newspapers doesn't allow that."
That quiet determination, however, has served him well. "You don't get to be a wise old guy in the FX [foreign exchange] market without being a real shrewdie," said one senior City figure who used to do business with him. "Not many can survive that long."
Lewis, who retains something of his Cockney accent, was born above the Roman Arms pub in Bow, in the heart of London's East End, and left school at 15 to help run Tavistock Banqueting, his father's West End catering business, starting out as a waiter.
For a time, it hosted a lot of masonic functions before expanding in the 70s to target American tourists, laying on a high-kitsch "medieval banqueting" experience. Also working for Tavistock was Robert Earl, who, with Lewis's backing, later went on to develop the themed restaurant idea into the Hard Rock Cafe and Planet Hollywood franchises.
Entrepreneurial zeal made Lewis a multimillionaire when he sold the family catering business in 1979, relocating to the Bahamas. But instead of resting on his laurels, he reinvented himself as a currency trader and made hugely successful bets not only against the pound in 1992, but also against the Mexican peso three years later. It was these jackpots that signalled to the world that Lewis was a lot more than a retired British leisure magnate lazing in the sun.
Quite how he developed such trading aptitude is not clear, but testimony to his powers can be found in the fortunes amassed by his many proteges. They include the Monaco-based Englishman Michael Tabor as well as Irishmen JP McManus, Dermot Desmond and John Magnier - best known as former Manchester United investors.
Outside the currency world, Lewis's fortune is put to work through Tavistock Group, a private equity business named after his father's catering firm and run out of his second home, a mansion in a Florida gated community which is itself another Lewis investment.
Lewis's total wealth is impossible to assess, particularly his fortune from currency trading. He was named the richest man in Britain in the mid-90s (despite his tax exile status), and estimates this year put his fortune at £2.8bn.
In the UK his chief lieutenant is Daniel Levy, best known as the controversial chairman at Tottenham Hotspur. Levy, the son of the Mr Byrite discount clothing chain founder, has used his sponsor's backing to build a name in the City, pursuing some well-timed investments. Other not-so-successful investments include aborted attempts to take over Christie's, the auction house, Victor Chandler, the offshore bookmaker, and Wembley stadium.
There has always been media interest around the football investments but Lewis has shown little interest in the sport. His preference is for tennis, sailing and golf, where he sponsors the Tavistock Cup. His golfing friends include Tiger Woods - whom he once partnered after paying £1.4m at a charity auction for the privilege - Ernie Els and fellow tax exile Sean Connery.
Lewis remains fit, playing off a handicap of 12 or 13. He is said, on occasion, to leave his younger executives breathless as he hops from fairway to tennis court.
mg:
