Courtesy of: http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk
David Parkin
Business Editor
THE London casino where Lord Lucan once played bridge with tycoons Sir James Goldsmith and John Aspinall, has been bought by a Malaysian billionaire with the help of advice from licensing experts at Yorkshire law firm Walker Morris.
Quek Leng Chan has bought the historic Clermont Club in Berkeley Square for around £30m from Rank through his Singapore-listed investment firm BIL International
The Mayfair club, which Rank acquired in 1990 as part of the takeover of Mecca Leisure, was designed in 1742 by William Kent and later was the home of Beau Brummell, the Regency dandy, and Lord Clermont, who often entertained the future George IV there.
It was opened as a casino in 1962 by John Aspinall, when he won the first gaming licence under Britain's new gambling laws. In its first few weeks, it became a celebrity draw, attracting the likes of Princess Margaret, the boxer Joe Frazier and the actors Roger Moore, Tony Curtis and Peter Sellers.
In 1972, Mr Aspinall sold the club to Playboy Enterprises to concentrate on his two animal parks, Howletts and Port Lympne, later setting up a new casino under his own name near the Clermont. Playboy was forced to sell the club in 1982 after losing its licence.
The Clermont will become the first casino to be operated by BIL Gaming, a subsidiary set up last year under the aegis of Paul Collis, the former managing director of Stanley Leisure's casino division.
BIL was advised by a specialist licensing team at Walker Morris in Leeds led by partner Paddy Whur and supported by a transactional team coordinated by corporate partner Debbie Jackson.
Peter Smart, chairman of Walker Morris, said: "BIL came to us for this transaction because of our nationally-recognised reputation in gaming law, following our recruitment of a specialist team earlier this year headed by partners Paddy Whur and Andy Wood.
"This is further evidence of the success of our strategy to build a practice with national and international reach from a single site in Leeds."
The sale of the Clermont comes after a review of Rank's operations by Ian Burke, the group's new chief executive.
Recently he ousted David Boden as head of its gaming arm and hoisted a 'for sale' sign over the Hard Rock Cafe chain. Mr Burke knows Mr Quek well, having previously run Thistle Hotels when it was part-owned by BIL. He quit in 2003 after BIL seized outright control of Thistle, becoming successively chief executive of Holmes Place, the health club operator, and Rank.
The Clermont was the only upmarket casino in Rank's Grosvenor Casinos division, attracting high-rollers who can win or lose fortunes at a single sitting, making the business very volatile. London Clubs International recently cited volatility of earnings as the main reason for selling Les Ambassadeurs, at Hyde Park Corner.
BIL Gaming has also applied for licences to operate casinos at 16 Thistle hotels in the UK, including at least three in London. Over the next few months, magistrates will also consider applications for sites including Aberdeen, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Brighton.
Arun Amarsi, chief executive of BIL International, said: "Along with Clermont, we intend to progressively expand our casino operations in United Kingdom."
david.parkin@ypn.co.uk
|
|
