Tycoons and a friendship that turned toxic
Look who turned up for celebration lunch!
BLING BROTHERS
Known for luxury developments and lavish lifestyles, the Candy brothers are notoriously secretive about business.
They launched themselves into property investment in their early 20s, using a £6,000 loan from their grandmother to refurbish a £122,000 one-bedroom flat in Fulham.
A flat at their best-known project, One Hyde Park near Harrods, sold for a record £136million in 2011.
Christian Candy, 43, who is married to socialite Lady Emily Crompton, has assets reportedly valued at £1.2billion and his firm owns properties worth £900million.
Nick, 44, owns a £1.1million collection of watches. His wedding to former pop singer Holly Valance – in front of guests including princesses Beatrice and Eugenie – was reported to cost £3million, with singer Katy Perry paid £1.2million to perform.
OLD PAL TURNED ACCUSER
Old Harrovian Mark Holyoake met Nick Candy at Reading University, where they shared a house for a year.
He presided over the collapse of his firm British Seafood, which imported fish from the Far East. It fell into administration in 2010 with debts of £253million, and the Serious Fraud Office became involved – although its probe was dropped with no charges.
Investment firm 3i sued him for fraud, claiming Holyoake’s company had invented sales to inflate its size, although the case was settled out of court. The married father-of-three, 44, lives in Ibiza in a £20million villa with wife Emma. The home is owned through an Irish firm – something he denies is for tax reasons.
DOOMED £42MILLION DEAL
In 2011, Mr Holyoake bought a Grade IIlisted Victorian mansion block in Belgravia for £42million, intending to convert it into high-end flats. But when an investor pulled out, leaving him £12million short, he approached old friend Nick for a loan.
Christian agreed the loan, with a 20 per cent interest rate and an agreement that he would receive 30 per cent of the project’s net profit. Mr Holyoake claimed he was forced into further deals and so effectively charged interest of more than 74 per cent.
He alleged he had been forced to pull out of the redevelopment, losing a potential £100million in profits. He sold the building for £86million in 2014, paying back £37million – the £12million plus interest, extension fees and a £10million share of the profit.
FALLOUT THAT ENDED IN COURT
Mr Holyoake claimed that the Candys had lied about the conditions for the original loan then coerced him into further disastrous agreements using bullying, blackmail and intimidation.
He said Christian Candy became a ‘screaming lunatic’ and threatened to put him ‘in a deep dark hole’.
He even claimed Christian had made a veiled threat against his pregnant wife Emma and their unborn child. A previous pregnancy had ended in miscarriage and Mr Holyoake said Christian had known about it when he told him: ‘Think about your pregnant wife.’
In one meeting, at Mayfair’s Bulgari Hotel, he said: ‘Chris sat with his body angled away from me, eating a big bag of sweets, rather like a stereotypical Mafia boss or James Bond villain.’
He said Nick had warned him his brother was threatening to sell his debt to Russian debt collectors, adding: ‘You don’t want to have your legs broken.’ The brothers argued Mr Holyoake invented the threats in an attempt to extract money from them, by forcing an out-of-court settlement.
Nick branded him a ‘fraudster and pathological liar’.
Mr Justice Nugee yesterday dismissed every claim against them.
A QUESTION OF TAX
Lawyers for Mr Holyoake asked the court to rule on the Candys’ complicated business arrangements.
They alleged Christian’s business empire, CPC, was really a joint venture but Nick’s involvement was secret for tax purposes.
However the court declined to rule on their business arrangements as they were not relevant to the case.
Their case raised questions over how Nick funded his lifestyle, given his relatively modest income from his firm, C&C.
Mr Justice Nugee also questioned the apparent ‘disconnect’ between his stated income and outgoings. He was said to have assets of around £194million.
Christian Candy said he made ‘substantial gifts’ to his older brother, including a London penthouse worth £160million, a Chelsea townhouse valued at £95million and £10million in cash.
The brothers, who are Tory Party donors, insisted the gifts were not an attempt to dodge tax but sprang from familial duty.
Father-of-three Christian said: ‘When deciding to make gifts to Nick, I have also taken into account that our father, who died from cancer in 2013, had said not long before his death that he wished the two of us were equally wealthy.’
CPC is registered in Guernsey but pays tax in the UK.
The Candy brothers strongly deny any tax irregularity.