WHO IS MARCUS EVANS?
Marcus Evans (53) is the multi-millionaire businessman behind a global empire that employs 3,000 staff spanning 15 locations worldwide.
Despite being English-born with a globe-trotting reputation, home for Evans is the prestigious address of Residence One at the former Four Season Hotel in Dublin 4, according to company filings.
How often Evans stays at the luxury D4 apartment that carries a €1.5m price tag, plus an annual service charge of €20,000, is not clear.
You won’t find photos of the notoriously media-shy tycoon splashed in the social pages or in any annual ‘who’s who guide’ as he maintains a low-key presence here.
Nevertheless, he maintains strong business links to Ireland.
The European headquarters of his international empire is registered at 7 Exchange Place in Dublin’s IFSC. The Hospitality Group’s (THG) Dublin-based finance director is Drimnagh man Kevin Mallon. And all of Evans’ IFSC companies are tax resident in Ireland, although a number of affiliated companies are based offshore in Bermuda.
Dublin-registered Marcus Evans Group Services Limited is controlled by Marcus Evans (Investments) Limited, a company located in Bermuda.
A lot of money is channelled through his Irish-based operations.
Company filings lodged earlier this year for THG — part of the Marcus Evans Service Group — reveal that €35.6m has been funnelled through its IFSC operation in inter-group “treasury funding” transactions.
Evans’s firms are no stranger to controversy, however. Hospitality companies affiliated to his empire are among those being sued by Uefa for allegedly selling unauthorised tickets and hospitality packages at Euro 2016.
In June 2014, the then CEO of THG Sports was arrested in a hotel in Rio for unauthorised sales of such packages.
THG was granted rights to sell hospitality packages in the early days of the Aviva Stadium. It was a hospitality partner with the FAI when the stadium opened in 2010. But earlier this month, the FAI distanced itself from THG, stating it no longer worked with Evans’ company.