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Mimi La Sardine: The 33.5m explorer designed with a little help from Pinterest

Natural materials bring the interior of 33.5-metre Mimi la Sardine to life thanks to an owner with an eye for the organic and a board on pinterest. Roger Lean-Vercoe tours an earthy explorer designed with a little help from social media.

The technology used to plan and build superyachts is constantly evolving, so why shouldn’t the creative inspiration that also shapes them? When browsing photo inspiration site Pinterest for interior design ideas, I was intrigued to stumble across an elegant mood board based on natural materials and beachcomber finds. Beyond the gorgeous images, what struck me most about the collection was its title – Mimi la Sardine ... because I had just been asked to visit a yacht of the same name. Could there be a connection? Could a superyacht’s decorative scheme be developed on a social media platform?

Mimi la Sardine is an explorer built by Cantiere delle Marche in Ancona, Italy, for a company created by Nick and Maxine Leslau. Maxine, who took the lead in conceiving the interior of their new yacht, is a bubbly character – a sculptor from the American Midwest, full of life and enthusiasm. “Our first three yachts were Princesses , the last a 95-footer [29 metre], but to tell you how we got to where we are today I have to step back to 2000 when we were in a very bad yachting accident,” she says. “We were chartering [41 metre sailing yacht] Mirabella III in the Caribbean when we lost our mast. It was in a storm and there was lots of drama – extremely scary stuff, especially with our three small boys aboard.”

Maxine and her husband are, as she puts it, “obsessed with the water” and were soon back on it, but the experience left its mark. “I had a bit of post-traumatic stress and I always worried about tipping over,” she says. This meant that when it came to choosing a new yacht to buy, safety was the first priority and the couple looked for a really solid boat with a steel hull. Nick saw an explorer for sale but Maxine was not convinced. “I thought, OK, but is that just going to look like a bath toy because, being an artist, lines are very important to me. If I’m honest, I hadn’t imagined the next boat looking like that!” she recalls. “But when we went out on it we were impressed with her chunkiness and feeling of solidity and stability. It felt so safe at sea, and it had so much space inside – it really felt like a house, with everyone having enough room to do their own thing. We didn’t buy her as there was so much work needed to bring her up to standard, but she did, eventually, lead us to Cantiere delle Marche for the next boat.”

Cantiere delle Marche has carved a name for itself in the explorer yacht market since it was founded in 2010. Its boats are more than white yachts with a chunky look; they boast truly rugged steel-hulled construction and exceptional range, together with seaworthiness and stability beyond reproach: items that were identified as essentials of the breed by the yard’s founders, Vasco Buonpensiere and Ennio Cecchini. “Two years after a huge recession was not the most opportune year to start a shipyard,” admits Cecchini, the company's CEO, “but we found a client who believed in us." Twelve years on, the shipyard has delivered over 25 yachts – many of which have become award winners. The seaworthiness of these vessels is epitomised by one of their early yachts, a Darwin 96 class that was caught in Hurricane Sandy as she approached Fort Lauderdale where she was to take part in the boat show.

“She was taking six-metre waves on the stern,” says Cecchini, “but she rode them out very safely and arrived just 12 hours before the show started – and she was still ready in time for the opening!” The yard still offers the Darwin class in lengths up to 32.6 metres, but Mimi la Sardine is a 33.5 metre in the Nauta Air class. As ruggedly built as the Darwin, this handsome, semi-production vessel has an extremely efficient steel hull from Sergio Cutolo at  Hydro Tec  topped by an aluminium superstructure. The styling of the yacht and its interior layout were the work of  Nauta Yachts , while Maxine became intimately involved in the interior decoration from day one, working closely with Cantiere delle Marche’s interiors boss, Filippo Bevilacqua.

“As an artist, I’m very interested in plaster and clay sculpture,” says Maxine, “and my work often incorporates impressions of bark and natural organic materials, like shells and flowers.” This new boat, the first they had built from scratch, had to embrace this style. “We are quite earthy people and are not interested in an interior full of shiny, polished surfaces. We wanted to create the feel of a family holiday home, with the close-to-the-water feel of a relaxed beach house. I wanted to use plenty of natural materials like reclaimed wood and fabrics like hemp, linen and bamboo, and we even insist on organic soaps and candles.” What they did not want was “Wedgwood porcelain or white-gloved stewardesses constantly offering you coffee”. Luxury was essential but she describes it as “Bohemian boutique hotel” or “rich hippy” rather than formal glamour. “Life for us is all about finding the balance – enjoying what we have worked hard to get, but not leaving a trail of environmental destruction in our wake,” she says. So  Mimi la Sardine  is an economical displacement yacht with that ethos running throughout – they jettisoned plastic straws, for example.

The unusual style presented some challenges for Maxine, the largest of which was making the yard understand exactly what was wanted. “I don’t speak Italian and a lot of the design team didn’t speak English, so my Pinterest file where I gathered my ideas was very useful in the many meetings when I was getting this message over,” she says. “I even arrived with pieces of tree saying, ‘Look, I really want to have this texture; don’t give me any flat surfaces.’” Maxine’s persistence, together with her Pinterest board, certainly delivered the interior that she wanted, so much so that she literally jumped for joy when she saw the completed interior for the first time.

As soon as you enter the main saloon you are encased in organic serenity – the oak floor is repeated in the deckhead, while the built-in furniture is also crafted from weathered oak, a huge bulk of which forms a rough-cut low table between a pair of stylish Scandi-style sofas. Vast windows and bright walls light the room and its many pieces of art, while connecting it with the ocean beyond. It certainly achieves the aim of a family-oriented beach house style. But, unusually, there is no dining table, since the eminently sensible decision was taken to make dining the function of the upper deck saloon while, moving aft through wide doors, the aft deck of the same level is the yacht’s main outdoor dining area. This organic elegance extends throughout the yacht from the master cabin, positioned traditionally, forward on the main deck, to the four lower-deck guest cabins.

Equal attention was given to the deck areas, which were arranged for maximum functionality and style. Aloft, the sundeck includes a spa pool, sunbathing and bimini-shaded dining served from its own barbecue, while forward-facing seating gives the grandstand view when under way. Another large sunbed, ideally positioned to obtain a cooling breeze while at anchor, is found on the foredeck but, for many, the main deck aft will be the yacht’s real outdoor attraction.

Mimi la Sardine  was lengthened by a metre over her earlier sistership  Narvalo  to provide a larger bathing platform for watersports, but shares her wide stairway descending from the aft deck, a feature that provides intimate connectivity between the aft deck and water. “I love this area,” enthuses Maxine. “You can sit and draw in shaded comfort on the aft deck and still be part of the watersports or fishing that is happening on the bathing platform; this boat is all about being together as family and friends and close to the water.

“We feel this is a perfect yacht,” she continues. “It accommodates a family in all the style and comfort it needs and gives everything you want without disrespect to the planet.  Mimi la Sardine  is, for sure, the largest yacht I have helped create and may be the last, but we shall see.” What Maxine did not say, was that it was her hard work that achieved her dream. The shipyard and its professional design team fully acknowledge this, writing on its website: “A special tribute must be paid to Maxine Leslau, whose enthusiasm, charisma, knowledge of design, materials and manufacturers were pivotal to the extraordinary result achieved. Her exquisite taste and capability to share her vision helped create  Mimi la Sardine’s  unique interior design and decoration.” Of course, a modicum of praise must extend to Pinterest, which also played the part of translator in all this.

Exploring the world with a smaller footprint

Owners are slowly but surely becoming aware of the need to reduce the environmental impact of their yachts. The most laudable example of this is perhaps the ultra-cool, three-masted 107-metre  Black Pearl  – the world’s largest sailing yacht – that boasts the unique ability (for any yacht, motor or sail, of more than 30 metres in length) to cross the oceans without the use of any carbon-based fuel. But going greener doesn’t have to involve such revolutionary boatbuilding. With  Mimi la Sardine , the Leslaus have replaced a “gas-guzzling” semi-displacement yacht with a larger but eminently cleaner and more economical displacement vessel. Two 1,800kW diesels (typically MTU 16V 2000 M93s) are generally used to power a 29-metre, 28-knot, semi-displacement motor yacht.

These will have an approximate fuel burn of around 600 litres of diesel per hour (yacht brokerage advertisements for semi-displacement yachts usually shy away from providing consumption figures) at a cruising speed of about 20 knots. Of course, powered by a pair of 533kW Caterpillar diesels,  Mimi la Sardine  is much slower, offering a normal cruising speed of 12.2 knots when she consumes just 163 litres per hour, while at 10 knots she sips just 72 litres per hour – but what a saving in both monetary and ecological terms. On a long-distance delivery her comfortable 7.5-knot cruising speed is even more economical, giving her a massive range of more than 12,000 nautical miles. This yacht can see the world in comfort and style while reducing her impact on the planet.

This article was originally published in the May 2019 issue of BOAT International. 

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St Katharine Docks gets new owner

• June 29, 2011

London marina bought for £156 million

London’s St Katharine Docks , home of the capital’s main marina, has a new owner, after it was snapped up for £156.3 million.

Property mogul Nick Leslau, who co-owns Saracens Rugby Club, has bought the marina and five surrounding buildings through his Max Property Group , which counts Alton Towers and Madame Tussauds among its portfolio, although this is its first experience of investing in a marina.

St Katharines became available after the previous owners, F&C Reit and Area Property Partners, defaulted on a £170 million loan.

Mr Leslau is hoping the waterside location will woo City of London tenants to its office space and he promised a major overhaul of the buildings.

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The Secret Millionaire who’s betting that property will recover

Thank God! I'm talking to someone who believes the worst is over, who is putting their own money in and, get this, is listing their company on the market.

And not just anyone either. Nick Leslau has made a pile in the past from property and here he is again, raising £200 million to go back into the water. Of that, £20 million is from him, with another £5 million from his sidekick Mike Brown (Mike Slade's former deputy at Helical Bar) and £35 million from the Och-Ziff hedge fund. Already, the City is signed up — the grapevine suggests Leslau has received pledges for the rest of what he needs.

"It's the latest chapter in my commercial career," says Leslau of the new venture, Max Property Group. "We believe we're listing it at a very exciting time. We're somewhere close to the bottom of the cycle and there are huge opportunities open to anyone in all sorts of real estate close to the bottom.

"If you look back at property in previous recessions, you find that within four to seven years they're back at their peak, that people who bought astutely in those times did extremely well." He plans to buy commercial properties and add value by restructuring the tenancies or tarting them up and selling them on.

Within 7½ years, Max will be wound up and the proceeds paid out to shareholders. The first five years of the firm's life will be about investing and buying properties, the next two-and-a-half will be devoted to their disposal.

There's no significant development involved, no massive risk — he's not about to don a hard hat. "I don't do holes in the ground. I won't speculatively develop, I won't go into the Kazakhstani suburban resi market or anything like that."

He's done it before — when he made Burford into a £1.2 billion business by persuading the likes of Ian Schrager to come over here and open the St Martins Lane and Sanderson hotels, by turning round Conran's Butler's Wharf and by spending £1.5 million on a load of clapped-out businesses in Finchley Road, transforming them into the O2 cinema and shopping complex and netting a £50 million profit.

The City can't get enough of Leslau, 49. Indeed, in the past, faith in his magic touch reached crazy proportions. He was one of the "dream team", along with his longtime friend, colleague and mentor, Nigel Wray, Julian Richer of Richer Sounds and Archie Norman, ex of Asda, who formed a shell company called Knutsford, with just £5 million in cash and the intention of having fun. So convinced were investors in their collective ability and drive that Knutsford's market cap reached £2 billion, with much of the optimism focused on the idea they had Marks & Spencer in their sights.

But success has not always come. Knutsford crashed when Norman suddenly declared he was off to work for the Tories. Leslau was involved with PR guru Matthew Freud in Oxygen, a dot-com incubator that collapsed. His experience with Pharmacy, the Damien Hirst-designed restaurant, also with Freud, wasn't happy.

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Leslau also came unstuck in the Trocadero. No sooner did the Piccadilly Circus centre, owned by Burford, open than it was obvious SegaWorld, its "virtual-reality theme park", was a disaster. Leslau points out that the Trocadero still went on to make £70 million. But in 1997 he quit to set up Prestbury, another property company, with Wray. "I'd left because I was running a £1 billion company, we'd demerged all these firms. I was sitting on several boards, working every hour under the sun and I only owned 2% of the equity. I don't want to run someone else's company. I want to be an owner."

He later liquidated Prestbury and paid back his shareholders, saying prospects in property were poor. Then, with Wray, he started a new, private company, Prestbury Investment Holdings. This saw him having to deny accusations he was simply trying to avoid having to deal with small shareholders.

But why return now to the market he left? "I was on record when Prestbury delisted as saying that I'm better at running investments than running a company, and the public arena doesn't suit me," he says. "But this is different. It will only have a 7½-year life — it's more akin to a quoted investment fund."

Not that mud has ever really attached to Leslau. He's big and genial, and everyone seems to get on with him. With his long hair and hatred of ties, he seems like an English Gérard Depardieu. He's admired and respected, not only because he has made an awful lot of money for his backers and himself (The Sunday Times Rich List says he's worth £120 million, but his Mayfair home, where he lives with his American sculptress/designer wife Maxine and their three sons, has to carry a £30 million price tag, and there's the 100ft yacht and private jet he shares with Wray), but he also, again with Wray, financed Saracens rugby club for 13 years.

Has he lost money in Sarries? "Consistently!" he says, laughing. "I've not lost as much as Nigel. Watching them isn't relaxing. They've been perennial under-achievers for a bit too long now."

Though Leslau went to private school, his parents were not wealthy — his father was a part-time art historian-turned-jeweller, with a shop in Kilburn High Road. They split when he was nine, and Leslau lived with his mother in Cricklewood. His grandfather paid the school fees for him and his two brothers. He was "miserable" for much of his time at school, although he blossomed later (he went on to become a governor of The Hall and Mill Hill).

"I was right down at the bottom — you should see my reports, although I did click a bit when I was 14." After a year off (he first met Wray while working in the Late Late store in Belsize Village during that year, Leslau was stacking shelves and Wray, also an old Mill Hillian and something of a City personality, having written the Fleet Street Letter tipsheet, would come in), he ended up going to Warwick University to read German, but left after a couple of terms to study estate management at South Bank Polytechnic.

Property was what he wanted to do. As a teenager, he would turn up to Barnard Marcus auctions, just to watch and learn. He bought his first property at 20 — a large, rundown house in Manchester, full of tenants. He got them rehoused, obtained planning permission to convert it into offices and sold the place for £15,000 — his first profit.

Why make more now, why not put your feet up and watch Saracens? "I'm not hard-wired that way. My aim is to make a lot of money and give it away." He did a stint on C4's Secret Millionaire last year, handing over £400,000 to those he thought deserving in Glasgow and he's previously, with his family, helped build an orphanage in Malawi. "I'm looking forward to my dotage, to finding things worthy of support and helping them — and in the meantime having a great time. That's important."

It is. Plenty in the City will agree with that.

Life and Times of Nick Leslau

Born: 1959 Education: The Hall, Hampstead; Mill Hill School; Warwick University (dropped out), then South Bank Polytechnic First job: trainee chartered surveyor with Burford Key moves: built up Burford; started Prestbury Group; delisted Prestbury and formed Prestbury Investment Holdings; involved in a series of vehicles, including Knutsford; created Max Property Group Interests: walking, watching rugby (co-owns Saracens), playing rugby with sons, being on his yacht.

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Exclusive: The property tycoon who gave away £225K to Possil's poorest after undercover mission

HE'S one of the richest men in Britain, with a cool £200million in the bank. But when Nick Leslau hit Glasgow, his first job was to clean the toilets.

• 00:00, 14 AUG 2008
• Updated 09:51, 1 JUL 2012

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HE'S one of the richest men in Britain, with a cool s200million in the bank. But when Nick Leslau hit Glasgow, his first job was to clean the toilets.

The property tycoon, who owns the theme park Alton Towers, went undercover in a mission to help some of the poorest people in Scotland.

And he revealed that swapping his s15million mansion in the heart of London's Mayfair, along with his yacht and private jet, to work with disabled Scots and live on s8.40 benefits a day, changed his life.

The emotional stories he heard filming the Channel 4 show, The Secret Millionaire, which airs on August 19, inspired him to give away more than s225,000 of his money.

Nick, 49, said: "It's the greatest gift to be able to give away money.

"I didn't mind cleaning the toilets and mopping the floor. That's something any volunteer would be asked to do.

"And doing this gave me the chance to chat to people and work out where my budget could best go to make a real difference to their lives."

But dad-of-three Nick's first impressions of Glasgow's Possilpark, in the north of the city, which became his home for 10 days, were not good. Describing the buildings as "like East Berlin", Nick was shocked by the crime-ridden streets which form one of the poorest areas in the UK.

"I was amazed at how quickly Glasgow transformed from its beautiful bits into the less beautiful bits," he said. "It was just a matter of minutes. They took away all my material comforts and the question was will I drown? I was pleased that I didn't."

As he reluctantly settled into a tenement flat on Hawthorn Street, the mould on the walls didn't make him feel any more at home.

Nick said: "The accommodation I was put into was grim. It was pretty scary when I first moved in. That first night in a horrible bed, in a horrible flat, wasn't my best night's sleep.

"Ironically, what seemed pretty desperate on the first day actually seemed quite nice by day three. It became my sanctuary."

And choosing who to give away cash to meant hitting the streets.

Telling locals he wanted a career in social work and was making a film about voluntary work helped explain the cameras, but Nick admits he started out worried that his posh, accent would be a dead giveaway.

"I was concerned my accent was going to be a giveaway but if you haven't got a Glaswegian accent, then they don't care where you're from.

"There were a few serious Glaswegian accents I didn't understand, but on the whole it was fine. Glaswegians are very friendly.

"The shopkeepers were fantastic. I'm not used to going to shops where you get served through cages, though.

"I met people who had been in prison, people who were happy to show you their stab wounds, people who had been junkies, drug pushers. It was very depressing at that level, but in that darkness there are those beacons of light who help the needy who fall through society's net."

The hundreds of people who are helped every day by the Possil and Milton Disability forum centre in Closeburn Street, turned Nick's head from day one.

After he got stuck into cleaning the toilets, Nick chatted to chairwoman Veronica Rodden, who won an MBE for her services to the community.

Veronica said: "I had no idea Nick was a multi-millionaire. I just treated him like any other volunteer but now I know who he is, I can't believe I presented him with a mop and a pail. Nick and everything he has given us is proof that dreams really can come true."

Nick was impressed by the difference the centre makes to Scots' lives through running everything from social groups to providing free meals in the community.

He also learned they could do more if they had the money to upgrade the kitchen and build an extension to take in more community groups. But working with disabled people for the first time forced Nick to confront some uncomfortable truths about his own attitudes.

Nick admitted: "I learned I had fears of disability. It's slightly embarrassing to admit, but I was a road crosser. I would cross the road rather than confront someone who was severely disabled or blind. I guess I had a fear of what the reaction would be. I very quickly learned that it doesn't take long to see through the disability and see the person instead.

"That's how the programme has changed me."

When mum of two Irene Macrennie, of the Visual Impairment Organisation, shared what it felt like to suddenly lose her sight aged 30, Nick was close to tears.

Nick said: "She bent over to pick something up and asked her husband to switch the lights on. He said 'what are you talking about? The lights are on.'

"That was it. She'd gone blind there and then. She didn't leave her home for many years until her friend introduced her to the forum. Now she's there almost every day. It's just a life-changing place."

The courage and tireless devotion of the parents of disabled children at the Riding for the Disabled School in Summerston, also made Nick desperate to help.

As he chatted to the parents in a cafe next door to the riding school, he realised that precious half an hour when their kids are at a riding lesson is the only time in a week that many of the carers got to themselves.

"Some of these carers get no respite at all," Nick said. "That's why this place is so important as it's a sanctuary, a safe place where carers can go to share their feelings."

Later, through a befriending scheme, Nick met Andrew Lowe, 30, who lost his sight eight years ago after contracting a rare illness. Unlike most of the people he had met, Nick got the impression that Andrew had not yet accepted his disability and was still angry about it. Unable to use body language or even eye contact to forge arelationship, it made their first meeting uncomfortable.

Nick, who is used to effortlessly building long-lasting relationships with captains of industry across the world, even considered stopping meeting Andrew altogether. But back at his flat he had a change of heart.

Nick said: "I sensed Andrew was quite hostile towards me. I'm not sure what it was which kept making me come back. I closed my eyes and I thought to myself 'imagine if someone said you are never going to open them again.' Then I thought about Andrew, and I thought how dare I even consider if he's worthy of another visit. I had to go back."

It was the start of a great friendship, which forced Nick to confront his fears about disability and ask some close to the bone questions he'd always avoided.

"I asked Andrew questions about blindness which I'd never have dreamed of asking before," said Nick.

"It's a very personal question to ask ablind person 'Do you dream visually?'

"Andrew dreams of a holiday in Ibiza, a place he visited when he still had his sight. He can relive what it was like to see only in his dreams.

"He is a lovely chap, a really good guy."

After deciding who his money could best help and revealing his true identity, Nick promised to stay in touch with all the community groups that had impressed him.

The experience has moved him so much he's even signed up for voluntary work in London, which he plans to start after the summer.

And he can't wait to switch on the TV next Tuesday with his wife and three sons, aged 20, 16 and 10, to relive the 10 days which changed both his and dozens of lives forever.

Nick said: "I will stay in touch with all those people.

"I don't want to write a cheque and go. The remarkable people I met in Scotland are society's real heroes."

The Secret Millionaire, Channel 4, Tuesday, August 19 at 9pm.

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Nick Leslau: 'Be tough in business, but be totally honest'

Millionaire businessman Nick Leslau is renowned for making bold plays on the property market – and he usually gets them right.

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"Mention Nick Leslau's name in property circles and even rivals smile," saysThe Sunday Times. "He's one of the great characters. He's a great campaigner. He's done it all," gushes one. Among the many strings to Leslau's bow is a stint on Channel 4's The Secret Millionaire show, which culminated in a donation of £400,000 to a deprived community in Glasgow. He also gained the distinction 30 years ago of being the youngestchief executive of a UK-listed company. But it is Leslau's property nous thatreally commands his peers' respect.He's renowned for making big calls and usually getting them right (see below).

A big, well-padded man, at 56, Leslau "sports a mane that would make Peter Stringfellow proud". He recounts how, in his 1980s youth, he featured in pop videos with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Elton John and Level 42. But unlike some other young guns of that era, he retains a clear-eyed view of the boom that made his first fortune. "Never confuse a bull market with genius," he told the Financial Times. "We made so many mistakes in the 1980s, but the bull market carried us through. I learnt so much I was a lucky bugger, because if I had done half those things in a bear market, it would have been commercially fatal."

Leslau got into business young. Born in Cricklewood, London, his father had a jeweller's shop. His parents divorced when he was ten, and his grandfather put him through Mill Hill private school. "I was always conscious that a lot of kids had new football boots, whereas I had hand-me-downs. I'm sure that slightly awkward insecurity has been a driver."

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Before going to Warwick to read German (he dropped out) he had a formative experience working at the local Late Late store. His hunger for business so impressed the boss that he was put in charge. But he also made a vital contact, says the Evening Standard. One regular was Nigel Wray, another old Millhillian with "something of a City personality", who had bought, written and later floated the Fleet Street Letter investment newsletter. It proved a lasting and fruitful partnership.

Leslau and Wray made their first property fortune with Burford, building it into a £1.2bn business in the 1980s. One of their coups was netting a £50m profit transforming "a load of clapped-out businesses in Finchley Road into the O2 cinema and shopping complex". It was the first of many co-ventures, including the purchase of Saracens Rugby Club (one of their less successful commercial ventures). They still "speak daily", says The Sunday Times. Leslau and his family recently moved from a £30m Mayfair mansion to Primrose Hill and he citeshis yacht as his "favourite gadget".

He's worth an estimated £200m, but says that ultimately money isn't what counts. "When you die all you have is your honour and your good name. Be tough in business, but be totally honest and have integrity. That's more important to me as my legacy than dying a billionaire."

His magic touch in the property markets

The plan was to wind up Max Property in seven and a half years. But last year, Leslau jumped the gun, says Kathryn Hopkins in The Times: he sold Max, whose assets included St Katharine Docks and the Holborn estate, to Blackstone Real Estate for £448m, and this year he sold the freehold to Madame Tussauds for £332m. "We've sold £2bn worth of property in the past year or so," he told Claer Barrett in the FT.

He sees it as a precaution. "I don't think the UK property market is going to fall off a cliff, but the market may not be well positioned to deal with any surprises." Being ahead of the curve doesn't bother him. At the end of the 1980s, "we decided the market was too frothy and liquidated all our holdings. We were a year too early. But then the market crashed." He repeated the trick in 2006.

City faith in Leslau's magic touch has led to the occasional fiasco, says Money Observer, notably "the Knutsford debacle" of 1999, when Leslau, Wray and former MP/Asda boss Archie Norman floated a £5m cash shell with the aim of finding a retail business for Norman to run. Rumours of plans to buy Sainsbury's or M&S saw the market cap hit £2bn in a fortnight. It was "lunacy", Leslau says now. Another "painful" experience, says Oliver Shah in The Sunday Times, was Southern Cross. Leslau's investment firm, Prestbury, owned 21 houses let to the care provider; he was branded "despicable" by union leaders when it collapsed. For Leslau, that insult grated more than any financial loss.

Companies return production closer to home and shorten their supply chains due to the pandemic and geopolitical turmoil. How should investors react?

By Dr Matthew Partridge Published 15 July 24

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By Chris Newlands Published 15 July 24

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The life and times of property tycoon Nick Leslau

While the name Nick Leslau may be something of a mystery to many of the UK general public, there is no doubt that property investors and stock market investors will have come across his name on numerous occasions. This is a man who began his career selling umbrellas from a market stall and then went on to create and manage a business valued in excess of £1 billion. While there have been many ups and downs in the life of Nick Leslau he is set to return to the stock market again, suggesting that property market conditions have worsened considerably since he sold out at the peak and the cycle is starting to bottom out.

Who is Nick Leslau?

Nick Leslau is the son of a jeweller and a skilled part-time art historian who has quickly moved on to become one of the U.K.’s wealthiest property entrepreneurs. Born in 1959 Leslau has had a meteoric rise up the ranks having started out selling umbrellas from a market stall. Born in Cricklewood, North London, the Jewish entrepreneur has had his finger in a number of property pies and unlike many well-known property entrepreneurs of the past, he knows when to buy and more importantly he knows when to sell.

The career of Nick Leslau

Born into a poverty stricken family (which saw his parent’s divorce), Nick Leslau was afforded the luxury of quality schooling in Hamstead and Mill Hill School due to the fact his mother worked full-time to pay the fees. However, this investment at a very early age has borne enormous dividends with Nick Leslau estimated to have a personal fortune in the region of £200 million.

In the early days

At a very early age Nick Leslau worked for a local milkman for just 50p a round, using his funds to acquire umbrellas in bulk which he later resold on a market stall. However, perhaps his most prominent move was when he became manager of the Late Late Store in Belsize Park at just 17 and “bumped” into ex-Mill Hill student and now well-known city financier Nigel Wray. This was a meeting which was to shape Nick Leslau’s life forever and take him from the poverty of his upbringing into the lap of luxury.

Burford Group

After dropping out of his German degree at the University of Warwick, Nick Leslau decided to look into surveying eventually joining commodities trader Burford Group. He was employed in the company’s property division and using his contacts in the industry and the willingness of Burford Group to educate its employees he became a qualified chartered surveyor and a junior partner in 1982, aged just 23.

He then went on to become chief executive of Burford Group and his chance meeting with Nigel Wray some years ago led to the two working together to convert Burford Group into a pure property play. There followed significant acquisitions which saw the company exposed to such areas as Oxford Street London, the Trocadero Centre and the creation of Segaworld (a deal which was ultimately to cause the company significant problems in the future).

Prestbury Group

In 1997 Leslau and Wray set up a company by the name of Prestbury Group which was floated on the alternative investment market with the two property entrepreneurs delivering a 150% increase in net asset value in just two years. While the collapse of the property market towards the end of the 1990s impacted heavily upon the value of Prestbury Group, and other property companies, this did not stop the two property giants from taking the business private nearly 10 years ago.

A company by the name of Prestbury Investment Holdings was set up to acquire the old Prestbury Group with an array of property giants happy to become involved, including the likes of Sir Tom Hunter. Leslau is currently chairman and chief executive of Prestbury Investment Holdings which now has a property portfolio valued at £2.2 billion – owning the likes of Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Warwick Castle and Madame Tussaud’s.

Max Property

It has just been revealed that Nick Leslau is set to launch his new Max Property business venture onto the alternative investment market with the backing of the American Och-Ziff hedge fund. It is rumoured the US investor will be ploughing £25 million into the operation, a figure which will be matched by the company’s management. The directors list is very impressive and includes Aubrey Adams, a former chief executive of Savills the estate agents and Mike Brown the former chief executive of property group Helical Bar.

Prestbury Investment Holdings stands to receive fees of around £18.75 million over the next seven and a half years in a complex management arrangement which will see a minimum fee of £625,000 a quarter received by Nick Leslau’s company.

Max property – where will the money go?

The forthcoming alternative investment market floatation will value the company at up to £200 million and raise sufficient funds to complete a number of deals in the short to medium term. The who’s who of property investors, led by Nick Leslau, will use their extensive experience and skills in the property market to acquire offices, flats and retail developments over a five-year period. Initially the investment will be confined to the UK and will not be of a more speculative nature.

Nick Leslau has a track record which few others in the property sector can boast and a personal fortune of around £200 million. He has benefited from the significant ups and downs of the UK property market and the forthcoming Max Property flotation has caught the attention of many investors.

Aside from the fact that Nick Leslau has an excellent track record in the property sector there are many observers who now believe the sector may have “bottom out” with distressed selling in the office and retail sector having reached massive proportions. Very often it becomes darkest before the dawn and there is a hope that the UK property sector may be about to enter an initial recovery phase and then hopefully a return to growth.

It will be interesting to see how Nick Leslau, Prestbury Investment Holdings and Max Property perform in the short to medium term and whether in fact he has been one of the bravest property investors in the UK and called the bottom of the market.

One Response to “The life and times of property tycoon Nick Leslau”

What a lovely rags to riches story..if his family could afford Mill Hill School then the tale is not as stated though. Now what is going on with his frienship with William Hague???

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Club Statement: Leslau steps down from Saracens board

The Club confirms that after 21 years as a board director, Nick Leslau is stepping down in order to focus his time on new initiatives in the education sector and the ongoing demands of his role as the Chair of Prestbury Investments.

Nigel Wray commented: "Nick is one of my closest friends and always will be. We have had a great journey together at Saracens and although Nick now needs to focus some of his limited spare time on other projects, I know he isn't going far.

"I would like to personally thank Nick for his outstanding support and for everything we have been privileged to build together at this amazing club, both on and off the pitch."

Nick Leslau said: "After over 20 amazing years with the Saracens family, I am finally hanging up my director's boots. I have been so fortunate to have been part of this incredible club under Nigel's pioneering chairmanship and I am looking forward to staying closely associated with the Club for many years to come."

Nick will always remain extremely close to Saracens and the Wray family in particular and we wish him every success with his other endeavours. Nick will always be part of the Saracens family.

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• You are here: Big interviews

Top dog: Nick Leslau interview

14 Oct 2016 By Liz Hamson

Sitting in his swanky offices on Cavendish Square, complete with Mini bonnet signed by the 2003 World Cup-winning rugby team, the chairman of Prestbury Investments, Nick Leslau, has just acquired the 55-hotel Travelodge portfolio for £196.2m on behalf of the Secure Income REIT he advises.

It is not the biggest deal he has done or the most significant, but it does vindicate his confidence in the market in the wake of the EU referendum. And, he says as two-year-old boxer dog Yogi slumbers nearby on the sofa, it shows there are big wins on offer for those prepared to play, which he and Prestbury chief executive Mike Brown most definitely are, even in the most challenging of markets.

Leslau joined forces with Mike Slade’s former number two to launch Max Property in 2009, floating the company in the depths of the global financial crisis in what was the biggest IPO in Europe at the time.

“That’s how crappy capital markets were in 2009,” he recalls.

“People forget that after Lehman’s weekend, we were genuinely worrying whether the ATMs would have any cash. My kids say: ‘What do you mean?’ The enormity of what happened is lost on the new generation. Those who have been in property for the last five or six years have never known anything but a bull market.”

Taking back ownership

If people understate how bad things got back then, many overstate how bad things are now, says the outspoken Brexiteer. “I was quite strongly Brexit. My beef was dislocation from ownership of our parliamentary democracy and I think European Parliament is essentially inherently corrupt. We need to take ownership back and I’m delighted. I’m even more delighted that the hysteria being pedalled pre-Brexit and even pro-Brexit has now diminished to a trickle.”

This is not to say there won’t be a market slowdown. “The 30-year bond rate has shrunk from where it was just a few weeks ago. That means that the yields you get on property are starting to look attractive,” Leslau reasons. “Something’s wrong. Either bond yields are too low or property yields are too high. In my view there will be a correction.”

Snapshot: Nick Leslau

In 1982, Leslau ditched his German degree for estate management on the advice of friend and businessman Chris Simpson. He joined a small ground rent company started in 1982 by Sam Rosen called Burford Estate Property Company, which was floated in 1986 for £8m. The pair sold the company a couple of years later to Nigel Wray, who has been Leslau’s partner ever since, for £57m. At the time, Leslau was 26 and the youngest CEO of any quoted company.

“I didn’t know anything about anything,” he admits. “But we had ridden this bull market. Nigel and I then built the company over the next 10 years into a £1bn company. I spent 10 years deal doing with the likes of Franco Sidoli, who I’d met early on in the Burford days. We used to fight like husband and wife but we are like brothers. We did and do lots of deals.”

The deal that stands out is not a property deal, however. It was buying the rights to 600 Enid Blyton books and Noddy. “Not that I know anything about intellectual property, but it is very much like property. You own the freehold and you lease out or license out the commodities. I love that deal.”

He won’t be drawn on how much of one or when, but insists it will have little to do with the vote: “Brexit is a bit of a side show. The correction was starting six to 12 months before the vote happened.”

He points out that the open-ended funds have not, on the whole, been distress sellers. “In many cases, properties were sold at premiums to book value so the force of capital and the market was greater than the people observing the market,” he says, alluding to some of the more doom-mongering analysts. “I think the market’s been incredibly robust.”

And it will continue to be, believes Leslau. “I’m more bullish now [than immediately after the vote]. People say investment decisions are being slowed down. That’s because the global economies have slowed down. We’re going through a normal economic cycle.”

Like most property Brexiteers, Leslau was swayed by the financial and political arguments. The fact much of the rest of the country voted on immigration grounds is not lost on him, but he is confident common decency will win out. “There is racism. There is antisemitism. It sits below the surface. However, I think the UK can absolutely sift that stuff out. We’re an incredibly tolerant society.”

Checking-in: Source – Secure Income REIT raises £140m to fund Travelodge acquisition

He is not so sure about the rest of Europe. “When I look at France, it’s a different feel; it’s a different problem. Take the Nice attack. The description of Nice by commentators would have made me laugh were it not such a tragic event. People describing the idyllic seaside town of Nice – if you go back three streets, it is desperate.”

Given the turbulence elsewhere, one thing he is not worried about is a major exodus from the City. Certain financial functions will migrate, he concedes, but financial passporting will be granted because EU countries need the UK as much as it needs them. Indeed, Brexit will enable the UK to avoid many of the issues that have beset mainland Europe, he argues.

“I’m happy to be a Brexiteer because Europe has these problems permeating its society. Contextually, Brexit is a little bump in the road of what is a much bigger issue. It will be muddled through and our children and children’s children will benefit. I don’t want to be part of this European experiment that’s failing in front of our eyes.”

It was such bullishness that led Leslau and Brown to strike the Travelodge deal as others were sitting on their hands: “The Travelodge deal stood head and shoulders above the rest. We didn’t go out to say let’s buy hotels – we are opportunistic. We will go where the deal is. It just ticks all the boxes.”

For one, Secure Income REIT “knows and loves budget hotels”, he says. “The beauty of the budget hotel sector is that it’s been incredibly resilient through bad times because people tend to trade down.”

Leslau has made a career out of opportunistic plays and knowing exactly when to buy and sell. When he and Brown sold Max Property to Blackstone in 2014 for £448m, commentators said he was calling the top of the market, a claim he disputed. However, he admits he is happy to have sold when they did.: “We were getting into risk territory and at the end of the day, we are quite a conservative bunch.”

Always looking for an angle, today, Leslau is inevitably interested in alternative markets. There are now 81 assets in the Secure Income REIT portfolio, which include properties let to Ramsay Health Care as well as attractions such as Alton Towers, run by Merlin Entertainments.

“The upside with alternatives is that the investor space at the large end of the scale is not terribly well populated and therefore the higher the yields you’ll achieve for fundamentally very sound key operating assets,” he explains.

Thrill seeker: Leslau invested in Alton Towers as part of Secure Income REIT’s portfolio

He is also looking for deals that will be dividend enhancing and will enable it to de-gear from the current level of 56% to between 40% and 50%. With the overall portfolio now at £1.7bn post Travelodge, he also wants to keep growing.

“We’re very ambitious and want to grow this into a substantial REIT,” he says. “In all my years in property, I’ve only been interested in NAV per share: how much money can we make for shareholders?

We’re very ambitious and want to grow this into a substantial REIT – Nick Leslau

“I’ve never been interested in empire building. I’m not interested in empire building in this instance, except in the sense that the bigger we get, the lower our gearing, the more risk diversified we become, the better our access is to cheaper capital and the wider our appeal is to our investor universe. In REIT world, bigger is better.”

Leslau has no ultimate figure or lifespan for the REIT in mind. “I hope it will go on for a very long time, with or without me, Mike or Sandy [Gumm, our CFO]. I hope I’m a shareholder when I pop my clogs, but who knows. If someone came along tomorrow and bid a 50% premium to net asset value, then as always, it’s up to all shareholders, not me.”

No one has approached him, he claims, adding that he wouldn’t entertain offers anyway given the growth trajectory the business is on. “Boring is the new sexy,” he grins. “These long-term secure income streams rising with absolute transparency and predictability are brilliant.”

‘Good reception’

Leslau is understandably reluctant to divulge what he is looking at now. “There’s always scope to do deals,” he says. “We’ve had an incredibly good reception so far from the shareholders that we’ve seen. One of them said: ‘how do you top this?’ The answer is: ‘I don’t know’, but the most exciting thing is the deal we don’t yet have and that’s why we’re paid the bucks to go and find the next one.”

This is where being bigger helps. “Where we’re flying, we want the air to be quite thin and that means we can go to £300m or £400m. The bigger we are, the less likely we are to confront competition from the likes of M&G and L&G.”

However, he is not looking to widen his net beyond the UK. ” I am a fundamentalist when it comes to investment, because I think it’s hard enough knowing what’s going on in just one country – the idea I could go to Manhattan and compete with people who’ve been doing this their entire lives is as ridiculous as them coming to London. I’m not that arrogant. We tend to stick to our knitting geographically.”

That’s not to say if a big sale-and-leaseback deal came along he wouldn’t take a view; similarly if he had £5bn or £10bn of assets and felt he was running out of capacity in the UK.

Property has become increasingly commoditised, which is a shame

It is not inconceivable. Leslau estimates that over his career he has transacted £10bn of property. He is quick to credit his team, which he clearly regards as a cut above the ‘talent’ elsewhere.

“I think property has become increasingly commoditised, which is a shame,” he says. “The people who are in the property game today are too spreadsheet orientated. The investing we like to do is a bit more intuitive. It doesn’t fit a particular convention. I think the opportunities are probably in the slightly more obscure properties. Mainstream, forget it.”

As for the wider challenges faced by the property industry, Leslau believes the persistent problem of double dipping is finally being addressed. “My personal view is that there was a moment in time where you saw such enormous volumes of investment that it became irresistible and I don’t think the world is like that now.”

A more pressing issue, he believes, is the shortage of valuation experts able to handle substantial portfolios or properties. He would also like to see the SDLT “fiasco” resolved and a review of the non-dom rules, which he argues position the UK “completely asininely as slightly anti-overseas money”. Fortunately, he thinks we have a government that can deliver.

Conservative concerns

He does have concerns, though. “I’m genuinely worried that even without an effective opposition the Conservative Party could tear itself apart, with the Brexiteers and the right and left trying to decide what Brexit really means claiming the mandate of the people. That too will be resolved, but it will be a bumpy road.”

Prior to Theresa May’s announcement that she planned to trigger Article 50 by March next year, Leslau was warning that Brexit would take “six years minimum”. He has not changed his tune. “The Lisbon Treaty took about nine years, so I would be surprised if it took much less than that even if Article 50 is triggered early next year,” he argues.

Regardless, he is not worried about the outcome: “The Germans have to trade with us. The French have to trade with us. We have to trade with them. Therefore we will find a way around it. What I’m thrilled about is politics is alive.”

Meanwhile, he is still basking in the glow of the Travelodge deal. “The placing was more than two and a half times oversubscribed by major UK institutions on the whole, which was very exciting, and our share price is up some 20% from the pre-announcement level, so in view of what’s going on elsewhere in the markets we are pretty chuffed. On to the next one!” And the next…

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Alton Towers owner and multi-millionaire Nick Leslau on the “constipated” property market and that rollercoaster tragedy

By: Shruti Tripathi

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Nick Leslau, one of Britain’s wealthiest property entrepreneurs, loves buildings other people would find ugly.

“I have a thing for unfashionable buildings that people generally hate,” says the multi-millionaire who turned two sixties office blocks in London into the St Martins Lane and Sanderson hotels. “I like them because of the opportunity they represent and not because they look beautiful.”

But Leslau, who has amassed wealth in excess of £330m through big property deals, expects his sector to be slow this year.

‘Constipated’ market

“The property market is, excuse my expression, very constipated,” he says.

“The costs associated with buying and selling a property are so high that even when a buyer offers a cracking price, the seller doesn’t want to sell because he won’t be able to make a solid profit.

“Equally, everyone is desperate for yields in a market that is highly illiquid. This has led to a place where the assets you want to buy are too expensive and the vendors aren’t interested in selling because it will kill their yield. I expect the market to remain like this over the next two-three years.”

Is this Brexit-related? “No, not at all. This is a property cycle that would’ve happened irrespective of Brexit,” Leslau warns.

It is hard not to trust the 58-year-old property veteran’s judgement about the market.

In 1982, a 23-year-old Leslau was appointed the youngest CEO at the time of a listed company, Burford Estate & Property. Lessons learnt scraping through a degree in estate management from South Bank University came in handy, he says.

In 2011, Leslau bought London marina St Katharine Docks for £156m through his investment vehicle Max Property Group. The firm was sold to Blackstone for nearly £450m in 2014.

Currently, Leslau is the chairman of investment adviser Prestbury that is a 30 per cent shareholder in Secure Income real estate investment trust (Reit), a property firm with £1.6bn worth of assets including 55 Travelodge hotels.

Read more : What the General Election results mean for house prices

That rollercoaster crash

The Aim-listed Reit also owns theme parks Alton Towers and Thorpe Park which it leases to Merlin Entertainments .

Secure Income Reit is Leslau’s main focus this year.

“It is a fantastic business for returns and has performed beautifully in the last couple of years. It has the longest leases of any Reits in the UK,” Leslau says.

Leslau shrugs off worries about growth following the rollercoaster crash at Alton Towers in 2015 in which 16 people were injured including two girls who needed leg amputations.

The motormouth property mogul expresses great faith in Merlin CEO Nick Varney and calls him “an outstanding leader of his generation”.

“Statistically, you’ll have heard that it’s 20 to 200 times more likely to get killed driving to a theme park than in a theme park. The whole point the rides are there is because of the thrill.

“There was a human error for which Merlin has paid a massive price but the performance of the business has been exemplary and the share price is now at an all-time high,” he says.

A colourful character, Leslau worships the property sector but has a bizarre analogy for his obsession with it.

“The sector is wonderful to work in as properties don’t have opinions, they don’t go on holiday, they don’t answer back,” he chuckles.

Read more : Merlin says recovery from Alton Towers crash is "well underway"

From bricks to books

However, Leslau’s most memorable deals, both good and bad, are from outside the sector.

“I tried to bring the world’s first indoor virtual reality theme park at the Trocadero centre in Piccadilly Circus but it bombed and that hurt because it was such a public failure.

“It did make money but it wasn’t about the money, it was about the vision.”

His favourite deal has been buying rights to Enid Blyton’s books.

“I did that deal with Enid’s daughters, one of whom didn’t really like her mother at all and one who adored her. That was quite an interesting negotiation,” he enthuses.

Among sectors that have impressed Leslau is the meteoric rise of online retailers like Amazon  while high street brands have left him unimpressed.

“When retailers are doing well, it’s the management and when they’re doing badly it’s the weather. They aren’t good investments in the long run,” he remarks.

Leslau cleary likes to think long-term but do not mention the r-word to him.

“No, no, no, I have no plan to retire. I’m not retiring until I’m stuck in a home or in a box or something,” he says.

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Nick leslau makes the secret millionaire’s biggest ever donation.

BY Candice Krieger

Property entrepreneur Nick Leslau digs deep into his pockets next week when he makes a generous cash donation to severely disabled people in Glasgow, as part of Channel 4's The Secret Millionaire. Channel 4 says it is the biggest donation yet made on the show, in its third series.

The programme features seven individuals who conceal their true identity and assume a new one in order to seek out volunteers in need of their help and cash. Mr Leslau, worth an estimated £200 million, according to the Sunday Times Rich List, is the wealthiest participant of the series. "It opened my eyes to some appalling deprivation on our doorstep," he tells People. "Poverty, violence, drugs, alcohol and unemployment fuel a desperate downward spiral, which was the backdrop for my encounter with the disabled and those who have fallen through the so-called ‘safety net' of society.

"I was embarrassed to have to admit to and confront my own personal fears of those with mental or physical impediments, but cherished the time I was able to spend with so many people, who showed me that beneath the disabilities are some of the kindest and most loving people around. The volunteers who help look after these people are society's real heroes.

"I have never had so much fun and pure joy giving away money in my life."

Mr Leslau is the chairman of Prestbury Investment Holdings.

Mr Leslau is on Channel 4's The Secret Millionaire on Tuesday August 19 at 9pm

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Saracens owner Wray relinquishes controlling stake in club after salary cap scandal

Maggie Alphonsi, the former Saracens captain and England international, will join the Premiership club's board as part of a deal that will see World Cup winner Francois Pienaar become a shareholder, Sky News learns.

City editor @MarkKleinmanSky

Friday 1 October 2021 17:24, UK

The owner of Saracens, one of the most successful clubs in English rugby union history, is to hand over control to an investment consortium that includes Francois Pienaar, the South African former World Cup-winning captain.

Sky News can exclusively reveal that Nigel Wray has agreed the terms of a takeover of Saracens by a group of investors led by Dominic Silvester, a long-standing Saracens supporter and the chief executive of Enstar Group, a multinational insurance company.

The consortium also includes Nick Leslau, a property entrepreneur who previously owned shares in the club; Paul O'Shea, another Enstar executive; Marco Masotti, a partner at the corporate law firm Paul Weiss; and Mr Pienaar, who captained Saracens and in 1988 led the club to its first trophy in 127 years.

Maggie Alphonsi, the former Saracens and England flanker, will join the club's board following the takeover, according to an insider, while Michael Yormark, president of Roc Nation, the talent agency founded by Jay-Z, is being recruited as a special adviser.

Neil Golding, the Freshfields lawyer who replaced Mr Wray as chairman last year, is also understood to be investing in the club as part of the deal.

Mr Wray will retain a substantial minority stake in Saracens, but will become a passive investor without any direct influence over the club's administration, according to a source briefed on the deal.

He will not take any money off the table from the transaction, but will instead be diluted to the status of a minority shareholder through the issuance of equity to the new investors, the source added.

The Unique Burial of a Child of Early Scythian Time at the Cemetery of Saryg-Bulun (Tuva)

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Pages:  379-406

In 1988, the Tuvan Archaeological Expedition (led by M. E. Kilunovskaya and V. A. Semenov) discovered a unique burial of the early Iron Age at Saryg-Bulun in Central Tuva. There are two burial mounds of the Aldy-Bel culture dated by 7th century BC. Within the barrows, which adjoined one another, forming a figure-of-eight, there were discovered 7 burials, from which a representative collection of artifacts was recovered. Burial 5 was the most unique, it was found in a coffin made of a larch trunk, with a tightly closed lid. Due to the preservative properties of larch and lack of air access, the coffin contained a well-preserved mummy of a child with an accompanying set of grave goods. The interred individual retained the skin on his face and had a leather headdress painted with red pigment and a coat, sewn from jerboa fur. The coat was belted with a leather belt with bronze ornaments and buckles. Besides that, a leather quiver with arrows with the shafts decorated with painted ornaments, fully preserved battle pick and a bow were buried in the coffin. Unexpectedly, the full-genomic analysis, showed that the individual was female. This fact opens a new aspect in the study of the social history of the Scythian society and perhaps brings us back to the myth of the Amazons, discussed by Herodotus. Of course, this discovery is unique in its preservation for the Scythian culture of Tuva and requires careful study and conservation.

Keywords: Tuva, Early Iron Age, early Scythian period, Aldy-Bel culture, barrow, burial in the coffin, mummy, full genome sequencing, aDNA

Information about authors: Marina Kilunovskaya (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail: [email protected] Vladimir Semenov (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail: [email protected] Varvara Busova  (Moscow, Russian Federation).  (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences.  Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Kharis Mustafin  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Technical Sciences. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Irina Alborova  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Biological Sciences. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Alina Matzvai  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected]

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Sergei Ryakhovsky

The balashikha ripper, the hippopotamus,   active for 6 years (1988-1993) in russia, confirmed victims, possible victims.

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Sergei Ryakhovsky (Sergei Vasilyevich Ryakhovsky) a Soviet-Russian serial killer known as the Balashikha Ripper and The Hippopotamus. Ryakhovsky was convicted for the killing of nineteen people in the Moscow area between 1988 and 1993. Ryakhovsky's mainly stabbed or strangulated his victims, he mutilated some bodies, mainly in the genital area. Allegedly Ryakhovsky carried out necrophilic acts on his victims and stole their belongings. Ryakhovsky standing 6’5" tall and weighting 286 pounds, gaining him the nickname, The Hippo. Sergei Ryakhovsky died on January 21st 2005 from untreated tuberculosis while serving his life sentence in prison.

Sergei Ryakhovsky Serial Killer Profile

Serial Killer Sergei Ryakhovsky (aka) the Balashikha Ripper, The Hippopotamus, was active for 6 years between 1988-1993 , known to have ( 19 confirmed / 19 possible ) victims. This serial killer was active in the following countries: Russia

Sergei Ryakhovsky was born on December 29th 1962 in Balashikha, Moscow Oblast, Soviet Union. He had a physically defect. During his education he had academic, social or discipline problems including being teased or picked on.

Sergei Ryakhovsky a necrophile male citizen of Russia.

Prior to his spree he had killed, commited crimes, and served time in jail.

In 1988 (Age 25/26) Sergei Ryakhovsky started his killing spree, during his crimes as a serial killer he was known to rob, commit acts of necrophilia , torture , strangle , rape , mutilate, and murder his victims.

He was arrested on April 13th 1993 (Age 30), sentenced to death by firing squad at a maximum-security penal colony in Solikamsk, Perm Oblast, Russia. He was convicted on charges of murder and other possible charges during his lifetime.

Sergei Ryakhovsky died on January 21st 2005 (Age 42), cause of death: natural causes, untreated tuberculosis at a maximum-security penal colony in Solikamsk, Perm Oblast, Russia.

Profile Completeness: 62%

Sergei Ryakhovsky has been listed on Killer.Cloud since November of 2016 and was last updated 5 years ago.

Sergei Ryakhovsky a known:

( 651 killers ) serial killer.

The unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s), in separate events. Serial Killer as defined by the FBI at the 2005 symposium.

( 308 killers ) RAPIST

Rape is usually defined as having sexual intercourse with a person who does not want to, or cannot consent.

( 60 killers ) NECROPHILIAC

Necrophilia, also called thanatophilia, is a sexual attraction or sexual act involving corpses. Serial Killer Necrophiliacs have been known to have sex with the body of their victim(s).

( 89 killers ) TORTURER

Torture is when someone puts another person in pain. This pain may be physical or psychological. Tourturers touture their victims.

( 251 killers ) STRANGLER

Strangulation is death by compressing the neck until the supply of oxygen is cut off. Stranglers kill by Strangulation.

Sergei Ryakhovsky Serial Killer Profile:

Updated: 2019-06-30 collected by killer.cloud.

8 Timeline Events of Serial Killer Sergei Ryakhovsky

The 8 dates listed below represent a timeline of the life and crimes of serial killer Sergei Ryakhovsky. A complete collection of serial killer events can be found on our Serial Killer Timeline .

Back to top Serial Killers Active During

The following serial killers were active during the same time span as Sergei Ryakhovsky (1988-1993).

Michael Lee Lockhart 3 Victims during 2 Years

Robert browne 2 victims during 26 years, jozef slovak 5 victims during 14 years, gary ridgway 49 victims during 19 years, serial killers by active year.

Books that Mention Sergei Ryakhovsky

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External References

• Sergei Ryakhovsky on en.wikipedia.org , Retrieved on Sep 18, 2018 .
• Juan Ignacio Blanco , Sergei Vasilyevich RYAKHOVSKY on murderpedia.org , Retrieved on Sep 18, 2018 .
• Q372816 on www.wikidata.org , Retrieved on Oct 9, 2018 .

Sergei Ryakhovsky is included in the following pages on Killer.Cloud the Serial Killer Database

• #3 of 45[ Page 1 ] of Serial Killers with birthdays in December
• #10 of 60[ Page 1 ] of Serial Killer Necrophiliacs sorted by Confirmed Victims
• #10 of 29[ Page 1 ] of Serial Killers active in Russia
• #10 of 55[ Page 1 ] of Capricorn Serial Killers sorted by Confirmed Victims
• #11 of 89[ Page 1 ] of Serial Killer Torturers sorted by Confirmed Victims
• #27 of 250[ Page 2 ] of Serial Killer Stranglers sorted by Confirmed Victims
• #35 of 307[ Page 3 ] of Serial Killer Rapist sorted by Confirmed Victims
• #63 of 651[ Page 5 ] of serial killers sorted by Confirmed Victims
• #264 of 651[ Page 18 ] of serial killers sorted by Years Active
• #381 of 651[ Page 26 ] of serial killers sorted by Profile Completeness
• #516 of 651[ Page 35 ] of the A-Z List of Serial Killers