Investors warned over £50m bond backed by Spurs legend

Savers have been warned by the City watchdog about two investment firms linked to former Tottenham Hotspur football star Ramon Vega.

London Investment Bonds and London Chelsea Group have not been authorised or registered with the Financial Conduct Authority and savers “should be wary of dealing with [them]”, the regulator has said.

London Chelsea offered £ 50m of “mini- bonds” to investors in March, according to a prospectus seen by Telegraph Money.

It listed Mr Vega, who earned 23 caps for Switzerland, as head of investments. The firm offered returns of up to 12pc per year for three years.

The prospectus flaunted the company’s track record of buying homes in London and the South East and making handsome profits of £4.9m on £6.2m of property over 38 deals.

However, Land Registry data suggested some purchases go back as far as 2005, meaning a rate of only a couple of deals per year. While the portfolio has returned 79pc, its annual rate of return was closer to 3.7pc.

Mr Vega declined to comment on the FCA warning and removed references to London Chelsea from his LinkedIn profile after being contacted by this newspaper. He was associated with Spurs as recently as 2019, playing a game for Spurs Legends. The club did not respond to a request for comment.

Companies and people who sell or advertise financial schemes in Britain must be authorised or registered with the FCA.

Alex May, an independent researcher, said savers should be wary of firms that do not have the watchdog’s stamp of approval. They do not offer access to the Financial Ombudsman Service or protection from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

The prospectus insisted investors be “sophisticated” or “high net worth” due to the risks involved.

Previous mini-bonds involving property developments, such as those run by London Capital & Finance and Blackmore Bonds, have resulted in investors losing millions of pounds. The marketing of mini-bonds to non-professional investors was banned in January 2020.