Nathaniel Philip Rothschild
Encyclopedia
Nathaniel Philip Victor James Rothschild (born 12 July 1971), also known as Nat, is a British-born financier who has settled in Switzerland, and a scion
of the prominent Rothschild family
. He is the Chairman of "JNR Limited", an investment advisory business primarily focused on emerging markets and the metals, mining and resources sector. He is Co-Chairman of "Bumi plc", a natural resources group listed on London Stock Exchange. He was Co-Chairman of the hedge fund
Atticus Capital from 1996 until its dissolution in 2009. He has a wide range of international business interests.
and Serena Mary Dunn
, the daughter of Lady Mary Sybil St. Clair-Erskine and Sir Philip Gordon Dunn, whose father was the Canadian financier and tycoon, Sir James Dunn
. As the son of a baron, Nathaniel is entitled to be styled "The Honourable
". He was educated at Colet Court
(in the same year as George Osborne
), Eton College
and Wadham College, Oxford
where he read history, gaining a 2:1. Rothschild was a member of the Bullingdon Club
as an undergraduate, at the same time as George Osborne
, now Chancellor of the Exchequer
.
, former head of M&A at Morgan Stanley
and Lehman Brothers
.
Rothschild was the co-chairman (as well as a 50% owner) of Atticus Capital, an international investment management firm established in 1995, that had offices in New York and London. There he was instrumental in developing the business, using his extensive contacts to raise money and hire talent. After the dissolution of Atticus Capital in 2009, Rothschild became co-chairman of the hedge fund Attara Capital LP, the successor investment manager to the Atticus European Fund, which was previously managed by Atticus Capital.
Rothschild is the former Chairman of "Vivarte", a pan-European retailer and owner of the Kookai
clothing brand. Appointed in 2000 following NR Atticus's acquisition of a 32.9% stake, in what was widely regarded as the first hostile proxy fight
in France, he led the group though its successful restructuring and subsequent sale to PAI Partners
, a French private equity firm in 2004.
He became an alternate director of RIT Capital Partners plc
in March 2000, and a full non-executive director in 2004 until 2010 when he stepped down from the RIT board to focus on his other activities. He remains a substantial direct shareholder of RIT and a 35% beneficial shareholder of Five Arrows Limited, a Rothschild holding company whose major asset is shares in RIT.
Since 2010, Rothschild has been a Non-executive director of Barrick Gold Corporation
. He also serves as the Chairman of the International Advisory Board of United Company Rusal plc
, the world's largest aluminum producer.
Nathaniel Rothschild is a member of the Belfer Center
's International Council at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government
and the International Advisory Council of the Brookings Institution
. He is also a member of the International Advisory Board of the Barrick Gold Corporation
. He was nominated as a "Young Global Leader" by the World Economic Forum
in 2005.
wrote that, in addition to Nathaniel's then declared inheritance of £500 million, his actual inheritance "hidden in a series of trusts in Switzerland is rumoured to be worth £40bn". Via NR Investments Ltd., his principal investment company, Nathaniel Rothschild was a cornerstone investor in the United Company Rusal initial public offering in January 2010. At the same time Rothschild bought $40 million of Glencore
bonds convertible into shares upon an IPO.
Also Rothschilds NR Investments Ltd. is the largest shareholder (26,5% End December 2009) of Volex, a Manchester
-based electrical cable maker. Furthermore Nathaniel Rothschild owns a 11% share in BR Properties, a Brazilian property company, and has an interest in various property developments in Eastern Europe (Montenegro
, Romania
and Ukraine
).
In July 2010 Vallar Plc, a Jersey
-incorporated investment vehicle founded by Nathaniel Rothschild, raised £707.2 million ($1.07 billion) in an Initial public offering
on the London Stock Exchange
. Vallar is led by Rothschild and James Campbell, a former Anglo American PLC coal
and base metals chief. Together with other members of the Vallar management team, they have invested £100 million in shares
of the company. Vallar will focus on investments in mining
of metal
s, coal
, and iron ore in the Americas
, Russia
, Eastern Europe
, and Australia
.
In November 2010, Vallar announced it was buying stakes for $3bn in two listed Indonesia thermal coal (used for power stations) producers for a combination of cash and new Vallar shares, with a view to combining them to create the largest exporter of thermal coal to China, India, and the other emerging economies of Asia. The transaction closed as planned on April 8, 2011.
In 2011, Valler plc was renamed "BUMI plc".
In June 2011, Rothschild and Tony Hayward
, the former chief executive of BP plc
, listed a successor vehicle to Vallar called Vallares (LSE:VLRS) in London Stock Exchange
, raising $2,2 billion. Essentially, this was identical in every respect to the first vehicle, which was metals and mining focused, except that the new entity would try to acquire oil & gas assets.
In September, Vallares announced a 50/50 all stock merger with Turkish Energy Champion Genel Energy
, valued at $4,2billion.
In 2011, The Sunday Times estimated his personal fortune to be $1.6 billion.
, Petra Nemcova
and most recently Princess Florence von Preussen (born 1983), a great granddaughter of the last Kaiser and a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. Rothschild lived for a time in New York before settling in Switzerland in 2000, and according to the Swiss business magazine
Bilanz he is a resident of Klosters
in Graubünden
. Despite this, he has regularly been referred to as one of the most eligible bachelor
s in New York and London.
politician Peter Mandelson
and the Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska
had met when staying on a yacht
moored near Corfu
, in order to attend a party held by Rothschild. After speculation that this might constitute a conflict of interest for Mandelson, Rothschild wrote a letter to The Times
, alleging that another guest was Conservative
Shadow-Chancellor George Osborne
, who, Rothschild claimed, illicitly tried to solicit a donation from the Russian for his party.
Further controversy emerged in the summer of 2009, when it was revealed that Mandelson (recently appointed First Secretary of State
) would be returning to Corfu to stay in a villa owned by Rothschild, despite in effect acting as Prime Minister during Gordon Brown's holiday absence.
Rothschild has been linked to the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi
, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi.
In 2009, Saif threw his 37th birthday party at the Splendid Hotel
in Bečići
Montenegro
where the guests were rumored to include Arcelor Mittal CEO Lakshmi Mittal
, gold magnate Peter Munk
, as well as Oleg Deripaska
and Nathaniel Rothschild.
Atricles
Lineal descendant
A lineal descendant, in legal usage, refers to a blood relative in the direct line of descent. The children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc...
of the prominent Rothschild family
Rothschild family
The Rothschild family , known as The House of Rothschild, or more simply as the Rothschilds, is a Jewish-German family that established European banking and finance houses starting in the late 18th century...
. He is the Chairman of "JNR Limited", an investment advisory business primarily focused on emerging markets and the metals, mining and resources sector. He is Co-Chairman of "Bumi plc", a natural resources group listed on London Stock Exchange. He was Co-Chairman of the hedge fund
Hedge fund
A hedge fund is a private pool of capital actively managed by an investment adviser. Hedge funds are only open for investment to a limited number of accredited or qualified investors who meet criteria set by regulators. These investors can be institutions, such as pension funds, university...
Atticus Capital from 1996 until its dissolution in 2009. He has a wide range of international business interests.
Early life
Nathaniel Philip Rothschild is the youngest of four children and only son of Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron RothschildJacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild
Nathaniel Charles Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, Bt, OM, GBE, FBA is a British investment banker and a member of the prominent Rothschild family of bankers...
and Serena Mary Dunn
Serena Dunn Rothschild
Serena, Lady Rothschild, born Serena Mary Dunn on 28 April 1935 is an English socialite and Thoroughbred racehorse owner. She is the daughter of Sir Philip Gordon Dunn and Lady Mary Sybil St. Clair-Erskine. Her sister is the writer Nell Dunn...
, the daughter of Lady Mary Sybil St. Clair-Erskine and Sir Philip Gordon Dunn, whose father was the Canadian financier and tycoon, Sir James Dunn
James Hamet Dunn
Sir James Hamet Dunn, 1st Baronet was a major Canadian financier and industrialist during the first half of the 20th century.-Early life:...
. As the son of a baron, Nathaniel is entitled to be styled "The Honourable
The Honourable
The prefix The Honourable or The Honorable is a style used before the names of certain classes of persons. It is considered an honorific styling.-International diplomacy:...
". He was educated at Colet Court
Colet Court
Colet Court is a preparatory school for boys aged 7 to 13 in Barnes, London. It forms the preparatory department of St Paul's School, to which most Colet Court pupils go at the age of 13.-History:...
(in the same year as George Osborne
George Osborne
George Gideon Oliver Osborne, MP is a British Conservative politician. He is the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, a role to which he was appointed in May 2010, and has been the Member of Parliament for Tatton since 2001.Osborne is part of the old Anglo-Irish aristocracy, known in...
), Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and Wadham College, Oxford
Wadham College, Oxford
Wadham College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, located at the southern end of Parks Road in central Oxford. It was founded by Nicholas and Dorothy Wadham, wealthy Somerset landowners, during the reign of King James I...
where he read history, gaining a 2:1. Rothschild was a member of the Bullingdon Club
Bullingdon Club
The Bullingdon Club is a socially exclusive student dining club at Oxford University. The club has no permanent rooms and is notorious for its members' wealth and destructive binges. Membership is by invitation only, and prohibitively expensive for most, given the need to pay for the uniform,...
as an undergraduate, at the same time as George Osborne
George Osborne
George Gideon Oliver Osborne, MP is a British Conservative politician. He is the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, a role to which he was appointed in May 2010, and has been the Member of Parliament for Tatton since 2001.Osborne is part of the old Anglo-Irish aristocracy, known in...
, now Chancellor of the Exchequer
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...
.
Career
Rothschild began his career in 1994 at Lazard Brothers Asset Management in London, before joining Gleacher Partners, the New York-based mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisory firm founded by Eric GleacherEric Gleacher
Eric Gleacher , an American investor and financier, is the founder and chairman of Gleacher & Co. an independent investment banking firm based in New York City....
, former head of M&A at Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City serving a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 36 countries around the world, with over 600 offices and a workforce of over 60,000....
and Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was a global financial services firm. Before declaring bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth largest investment bank in the USA , doing business in investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (former NYSE ticker...
.
Rothschild was the co-chairman (as well as a 50% owner) of Atticus Capital, an international investment management firm established in 1995, that had offices in New York and London. There he was instrumental in developing the business, using his extensive contacts to raise money and hire talent. After the dissolution of Atticus Capital in 2009, Rothschild became co-chairman of the hedge fund Attara Capital LP, the successor investment manager to the Atticus European Fund, which was previously managed by Atticus Capital.
Rothschild is the former Chairman of "Vivarte", a pan-European retailer and owner of the Kookai
Kookai
Kookai is a French fashion label founded in 1983 by Jean-Lou Tepper, Jacques Nataf and Philippe de Hesdin. It has a simple philosophy: "to supply young women with affordable apparel for their wardrobes". It has stores in Europe, Asia, America and Australia...
clothing brand. Appointed in 2000 following NR Atticus's acquisition of a 32.9% stake, in what was widely regarded as the first hostile proxy fight
Proxy fight
A proxy fight or proxy battle is an event that may occur when a corporation's stockholders develop opposition to some aspect of the corporate governance, often focusing on directorial and management positions. Corporate activists may attempt to persuade shareholders to use their proxy votes A proxy...
in France, he led the group though its successful restructuring and subsequent sale to PAI Partners
PAI Partners
PAI partners is a major European private equity house and is the leading private equity investor in the French market. It is one of the oldest and most experienced firms in the sector with its origins dating back to Paribas Affaires Industrielles, the historical principal investment activity of...
, a French private equity firm in 2004.
He became an alternate director of RIT Capital Partners plc
RIT Capital Partners
RIT Capital Partners plc is a large British investment trust dedicated to investments in quoted securities and quoted special situations. Established in 1961, the company is a list on London Stock Exchange and the FTSE 250 Index. The Chairman is Lord Jacob Rothschild.- Company Profile :RIT Capital...
in March 2000, and a full non-executive director in 2004 until 2010 when he stepped down from the RIT board to focus on his other activities. He remains a substantial direct shareholder of RIT and a 35% beneficial shareholder of Five Arrows Limited, a Rothschild holding company whose major asset is shares in RIT.
Since 2010, Rothschild has been a Non-executive director of Barrick Gold Corporation
Barrick Gold
Barrick Gold Corporation is the largest pure gold mining company in the world, with its headquarters in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and four regional business units located in Australia, Africa, North America and South America...
. He also serves as the Chairman of the International Advisory Board of United Company Rusal plc
United Company RUSAL
United Company RUSAL is the world's largest aluminium company, with headquarters in Moscow, Russian Federation. UC RUSAL accounts for almost 11% of the world's primary aluminium output and 13% of the world’s alumina production. The United Company was formed by the merger of RUSAL , SUAL, and the...
, the world's largest aluminum producer.
Nathaniel Rothschild is a member of the Belfer Center
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs is a permanent research center located within the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The center's current director is political scientist Graham T. Allison....
's International Council at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government
John F. Kennedy School of Government
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University is a public policy and public administration school, and one of Harvard's graduate and professional schools...
and the International Advisory Council of the Brookings Institution
Brookings Institution
The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. One of Washington's oldest think tanks, Brookings conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, and...
. He is also a member of the International Advisory Board of the Barrick Gold Corporation
Barrick Gold
Barrick Gold Corporation is the largest pure gold mining company in the world, with its headquarters in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and four regional business units located in Australia, Africa, North America and South America...
. He was nominated as a "Young Global Leader" by the World Economic Forum
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....
in 2005.
Investments
In 2000, The ObserverThe Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
wrote that, in addition to Nathaniel's then declared inheritance of £500 million, his actual inheritance "hidden in a series of trusts in Switzerland is rumoured to be worth £40bn". Via NR Investments Ltd., his principal investment company, Nathaniel Rothschild was a cornerstone investor in the United Company Rusal initial public offering in January 2010. At the same time Rothschild bought $40 million of Glencore
Glencore
Glencore International plc is a multinational mining and commodities trading company headquartered in Baar, Switzerland and with its registered office in Saint Helier, Jersey...
bonds convertible into shares upon an IPO.
Also Rothschilds NR Investments Ltd. is the largest shareholder (26,5% End December 2009) of Volex, a Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
-based electrical cable maker. Furthermore Nathaniel Rothschild owns a 11% share in BR Properties, a Brazilian property company, and has an interest in various property developments in Eastern Europe (Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
and Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
).
In July 2010 Vallar Plc, a Jersey
Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
-incorporated investment vehicle founded by Nathaniel Rothschild, raised £707.2 million ($1.07 billion) in an Initial public offering
Initial public offering
An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...
on the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
. Vallar is led by Rothschild and James Campbell, a former Anglo American PLC coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
and base metals chief. Together with other members of the Vallar management team, they have invested £100 million in shares
Share (finance)
A joint stock company divides its capital into units of equal denomination. Each unit is called a share. These units are offered for sale to raise capital. This is termed as issuing shares. A person who buys share/shares of the company is called a shareholder, and by acquiring share or shares in...
of the company. Vallar will focus on investments in mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
of metal
Metal
A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...
s, coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
, and iron ore in the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
, and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
In November 2010, Vallar announced it was buying stakes for $3bn in two listed Indonesia thermal coal (used for power stations) producers for a combination of cash and new Vallar shares, with a view to combining them to create the largest exporter of thermal coal to China, India, and the other emerging economies of Asia. The transaction closed as planned on April 8, 2011.
In 2011, Valler plc was renamed "BUMI plc".
In June 2011, Rothschild and Tony Hayward
Tony Hayward
Anthony Bryan "Tony" Hayward is a British businessman, the former chief executive of oil and energy company BP. He replaced John Browne, Baron Browne of Madingley on 1 May 2007. His tenure ended on 1 October 2010 in large part due to the circumstances of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill...
, the former chief executive of BP plc
BP
BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
, listed a successor vehicle to Vallar called Vallares (LSE:VLRS) in London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
, raising $2,2 billion. Essentially, this was identical in every respect to the first vehicle, which was metals and mining focused, except that the new entity would try to acquire oil & gas assets.
In September, Vallares announced a 50/50 all stock merger with Turkish Energy Champion Genel Energy
Genel Energy
Genel Energy is an oil company based in Turkey. It has its exploration and production operations in Iraqi Kurdistan with plans to expand its activities into other Middle East and North African countries....
, valued at $4,2billion.
In 2011, The Sunday Times estimated his personal fortune to be $1.6 billion.
Personal life
He was once briefly married to socialite Annabelle Neilson but they divorced in 1997. He has since been linked to Natalie PortmanNatalie Portman
Natalie Hershlag , better known by her stage name Natalie Portman, is an actress with dual American and Israeli citizenship. Her first role was as an orphan taken in by a hitman in the 1994 French action film Léon, but major success came when she was cast as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel...
, Petra Nemcova
Petra Nemcová
Petra Němcová is a Czech model, television host, author, and philanthropist. She is the founder and chair of the Happy Hearts Fund. In December 2004, she was injured in Thailand by a tsunami resulting from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake; her fiancé, photographer Simon Atlee, was killed in the...
and most recently Princess Florence von Preussen (born 1983), a great granddaughter of the last Kaiser and a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. Rothschild lived for a time in New York before settling in Switzerland in 2000, and according to the Swiss business magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
Bilanz he is a resident of Klosters
Klosters
Klosters-Serneus is a municipality in the district of Prättigau/Davos in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.Its well-known ski resort lies from Zurich, the nearest international airport. Transfer time is about 1.5 hours. Klosters is from Davos...
in Graubünden
Graubünden
Graubünden or Grisons is the largest and easternmost canton of Switzerland. The canton shares borders with the cantons of Ticino, Uri, Glarus and St. Gallen and international borders with Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein...
. Despite this, he has regularly been referred to as one of the most eligible bachelor
Eligible bachelor
An eligible bachelor is a bachelor considered to be a particularly desirable potential husband, usually due to wealth, or social status.In the United Kingdom, the heir to the throne or someone close in succession is often considered to be the nation's, or the world's most eligible bachelor, due to...
s in New York and London.
Controversies
In October 2008, he was the subject of much press speculation; it was revealed that LabourLabour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
politician Peter Mandelson
Peter Mandelson
Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson, PC is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Hartlepool from 1992 to 2004, served in a number of Cabinet positions under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and was a European Commissioner...
and the Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska
Oleg Deripaska
Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska is the Russian Chief executive officer of Basic Element company and a member of the Board of Directors and CEO of United Company RUSAL, a Russian aluminium industry company...
had met when staying on a yacht
Yacht
A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...
moored near Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
, in order to attend a party held by Rothschild. After speculation that this might constitute a conflict of interest for Mandelson, Rothschild wrote a letter to The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, alleging that another guest was Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Shadow-Chancellor George Osborne
George Osborne
George Gideon Oliver Osborne, MP is a British Conservative politician. He is the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, a role to which he was appointed in May 2010, and has been the Member of Parliament for Tatton since 2001.Osborne is part of the old Anglo-Irish aristocracy, known in...
, who, Rothschild claimed, illicitly tried to solicit a donation from the Russian for his party.
Further controversy emerged in the summer of 2009, when it was revealed that Mandelson (recently appointed First Secretary of State
First Secretary of State
First Secretary of State is an occasionally used title within the Government of the United Kingdom, principally regarded as purely honorific. The title, which implies seniority over all other Secretaries of State, has no specific powers or authority attached to it beyond that of any other Secretary...
) would be returning to Corfu to stay in a villa owned by Rothschild, despite in effect acting as Prime Minister during Gordon Brown's holiday absence.
Rothschild has been linked to the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...
, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi.
In 2009, Saif threw his 37th birthday party at the Splendid Hotel
Hotel Splendid
Hotel Splendid is the first 5-star hotel in Montenegro. It is located in the town of Bečići. The hotel was built and completely reconstructed between 2005 and 2006.-Accommodations:...
in Bečići
Becici
Bečići is a town within the municipality of Budva, Montenegro. It is located south-east of Budva, and has 771 permanent residents .Serbs 405 - 52,52%Montenegrins 264 - 34,24%...
Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
where the guests were rumored to include Arcelor Mittal CEO Lakshmi Mittal
Lakshmi Mittal
Lakshmi Narayan Mittal is an Indian steel magnate. He is the chairman and chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaking company....
, gold magnate Peter Munk
Peter Munk
Peter Munk, CC is a Canadian businessman. He is the chairman and founder of the mining company Barrick Gold, the world's largest gold-mining corporation.-Early years:...
, as well as Oleg Deripaska
Oleg Deripaska
Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska is the Russian Chief executive officer of Basic Element company and a member of the Board of Directors and CEO of United Company RUSAL, a Russian aluminium industry company...
and Nathaniel Rothschild.
External links
- BUMI plc - Natural resources group partly owned by Nathaniel Rothschild
- Profile of Nat. Rothschild on web site of Bumi plc
- Genel Energy - Oil company partly owned by Nathaniel Rothschild
Atricles
- "The Man Who May Become the Richest Rothschild", The New York Times, March 9 2007
- "Atticus Capital to close two hedge funds", The Sunday Times, August 11 2009
- "Man in the News: Nathaniel Rothschild", Financial Times, November 19 2010
- "King Nat’s mines", Financial Times, January 14 2011
- "From Klosters to Kurdistan", Wall Street Journal, September 12 2011 (It's not free article)