Ambani acquires English country club for £57m
INDIAN billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd has bought Britain’s iconic country club and luxury golf resort, Stoke Park, for £57 million.
Stoke Park Limited owns and manages sporting and leisure facilities in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire. There is a hotel, conference and sports facilities and one of the highest rated golf courses in Europe. The UK-based firm will add to Reliance’s consumer and hospitality assets, Ambani’s firm said in a filing last Thursday (22).
“Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Ltd (RIIHL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, has on April 22, 2021, acquired the entire issued share capital of Stoke Park Limited, a company incorporated in the United Kingdom, for 57 million pounds,” it said.
“RIIHL will look to enhance the sports and leisure facilities at this heritage site, while fully complying with the planning guidelines and local regulations,” Reliance said.
In the past four years, Reliance has announced $3.3 billion (£2.37bn) in acquisitions with 14 per cent in retail, 80 per cent in technology, media, and telecom sector, and six per cent in energy.
The group also has investments in EIH Ltd (Oberoi Hotels).
The acquisition of Stoke Park is the second major acquisition of a famous UK company by Ambani, 64. He bought Hamleys, the toy store, in 2019.
Stoke Park has a close relationship to Pinewood Studios and the British film industry. Two James Bond movies – Goldfinger (1964) and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) –were filmed at Stoke Park. An epic duel between James Bond (Sean Connery) and Goldfinger (Gert Frobe), considered to be among the most famous game of golf in cinematic history, the Park said on its website.
Scenes from Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) starring Hugh Grant, Renée Zellweger and Colin Firth were also filmed at the estate which has a Georgian-era mansion set in 300 acres of parkland.
Stoke Park hosts 49 luxury bedrooms and suits, 27-hole golf course, 13 tennis courts and 14 acres of private gardens. Although the Stoke Park estate has a recorded history of more than 900 years, it was used as a private residence until 1908, according to its official website.
Mayer Brown International LLP and Khaitan & Co acted as legal counsels for the transaction, and Ernst & Young UK advised on financial and tax matters.