Andrew Regan

Last updated

Andrew Regan
Born (1965-12-14) 14 December 1965 (age 58)
Manchester, England, UK
Nationality British
Occupation Entrepreneur
Employer Corvus Capital
Title Chief Executive Officer
ChildrenEight

Andrew Regan (born 14 December 1965, in Manchester, England) is a British-born polar explorer [1] [2] and entrepreneur. He is the chief executive officer of Corvus Capital, an investment company. [3]

Contents

Career

Hobson

Early in his career, Regan ran a household products business, Cadismark, which was sold to Hobson plc in 1991. [4] [5] Following the sale, he became the chief executive of Hobson, which was listed on the London Stock Exchange. In 1994, Hobson acquired F.E. Barber, the food and drinks manufacturing operation of the Co-operative Wholesale Society. [5] [6]

Regan was responsible for developing the Loyd Grossman range of sauces which were manufactured by F.E. Barber. After rationalising the operation, Hobson was acquired in 1996 by Hillsdown Holdings for £154 million, through a recommended cash takeover. [4]

Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS)

In 1997 Regan led an attempt to gain control of the CWS in a £1.2 billion take-over bid which was rejected. As part of its bid defence, the CWS carried out an investigation into former dealings between certain CWS executives and Regan. [7] In 1995 Regan had authorised the transfer of £2.4 m from F.E. Barber which he maintained he provided to an intermediary as a brokerage fee for successfully resolving the deadlock between the CWS and Hobson in negotiations about extending a food supply contract; the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) maintained that the transfer was used by the intermediary to provide a bribe to two senior CWS executives in order to extend the contract. [7]

Regan's first trial resulted, in 2002, in a hung jury and a retrial was ordered. This retrial in 2003, ended when a juror alleged he was approached by an unknown party. [8] [9] [10] At the second retrial (also in 2003), Regan was acquitted with the judge noting that he was minded to order the SFO to pay Regan's defence costs. [9] In 2005, the Co-operative Group (successor to the CWS) received what it described as a "substantial payment" as part of an out-of-court settlement with Regan and others in a civil case relating to the accusations. [6] [11]

ASOS plc

Regan was the original financier behind the online fashion retailer ASOS plc, which is now the UK's largest independent online fashion retailer. [12] [13] As Seen on Screen, as it was then known at listing, was reversed into Brindle Limited, a shell company created by a consortium of fellow Monaco investors that included Nigel Robertson. [14] The AIM listing raised only £255,000 (£95,000 after expenses) and had a market capitalisation of £12m when listed on the AIM Market in 2001, growing to £4.36bn in 2017. [15]

Corvus Capital

Regan became the chief executive officer of Corvus Capital, an international investment company, in 2004 - a position he still assumes. [4] Corvus was established to identify assets or companies which are either underperforming or undervalued. The management team attempt to acquire or tactically reposition such companies in order to realise potential value. Corvus Capital, Inc. was listed in the UK on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) [3] before it was taken private in December 2008. [16]

Corvus founded Lodore Resources, an AIM-listed investment company formed in 2004 with the intention to build a group specialising in the oil and gas sector. [3] The company listed with a market capitalisation of £6.4 million, and after building a group with its assets principally in the United States. In 2005 the company was acquired for a total consideration of £115.0 million. Other Corvus investments included, amongst others, Commoditrade and Gable Holdings. [3]

Regan has been involved in several start-up companies including Imperial Energy, an upstream oil and gas exploration and production company focused on the Commonwealth of Independent States and, in particular, the Russian Federation. The company was floated on AIM in 2004 at 25p per share and moved to the Official List in 2007. In 2008, Imperial was acquired by ONGC Videsh of India for £1.3 billion (1,125 pence per share). [17]

Academia

In 2014, Regan was awarded a PhD from Oxford Brookes University's Faculty of Technology, Design and Environment. His thesis was "A system to predict the S&P 500 using a bio-inspired algorithm." [18] [19]

Polar travel

North Pole

Regan visited the Geographic North Pole for the first time in 2004. In April 2008 he returned, completing an expedition on foot with three of his children [20] to raise awareness about climate change. His latest visit was in 2014, taking the total number of times he has reached the pole to three. [21]

Ice Challenger 05

In 2005, he led the Ice Challenger Expedition, a world record attempt for the fastest overland crossing to the South Pole. [22] The six-man Ice Challenger team completed the 1,200 km route in 69 hours, breaking the previous world record of 24 days (576 hours). [23] The expedition aimed to increase awareness of global warming. The entire team wanted to highlight the impact of climate change on the Antarctic, to the rest of the world. [22]

Moon-Regan TransAntarctic Expedition

Regan returned to Antarctica in November 2010, leading the Moon Regan TransAntarctic Expedition. [1] The 10-man expedition team completed the first ever there-and-back crossing of Antarctica, a journey of some 4,000 km, in 23 days. They travelled from Patriot Hills on the west coast to the South Pole, heading north from there through the Trans-Antarctic Mountains, down the Leverett Glacier and off the coastline onto the Ross Ice Shelf. [24]

Winston Wong, a prominent Taiwanese businessman and alumnus of Imperial College London, was the main sponsor to the expedition. The Winston Wong Bio-Inspired Ice Vehicle was the lead vehicle in the expedition and was the first ever bio-fuelled vehicle to reach the Geographic South Pole. [25] The WWBIV is currently on display at the Magic School for Green Technology at the National Cheng Kung University in Tainen. [26]

The expedition partnered with Imperial College London, to carry out scientific experiments in Antarctica. [27]

Personal life

Regan was born in Manchester and has eight children. [28]

Related Research Articles

Transport in Antarctica has transformed from explorers crossing the isolated remote area of Antarctica by foot to a more open era due to human technologies enabling more convenient and faster transport, predominantly by air and water, but also by land as well. Transportation technologies on a remote area like Antarctica need to be able to deal with extremely low temperatures and continuous winds to ensure the travelers' safety. Due to the fragility of the Antarctic environment, only a limited amount of transport movements can take place and sustainable transportation technologies have to be used to reduce the ecological footprint. The infrastructure of land, water and air transport needs to be safe and sustainable. Currently thousands of tourists and hundreds of scientists a year depend on the Antarctic transportation system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Antarctica</span>

The history of Antarctica emerges from early Western theories of a vast continent, known as Terra Australis, believed to exist in the far south of the globe. The term Antarctic, referring to the opposite of the Arctic Circle, was coined by Marinus of Tyre in the 2nd century AD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vivian Fuchs</span> British polar explorer (1908–1999)

Sir Vivian Ernest Fuchs was an English scientist-explorer and expedition organizer. He led the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition which reached the South Pole overland in 1958.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincoln Ellsworth</span> Early 20th-century American explorer of Antarctica

Lincoln Ellsworth was a polar explorer from the United States and a major benefactor of the American Museum of Natural History.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition</span> 1955–58 expedition to Antarctica

The Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (CTAE) of 1955–1958 was a Commonwealth-sponsored expedition that successfully completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica, via the South Pole. It was the first expedition to reach the South Pole overland for 46 years, preceded only by Amundsen's expedition and Scott's expedition in 1911 and 1912.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winston Wong</span>

Winston Wen-Yang Wong OBE is the eldest son of Wang Yung-ching, chair of the Formosa Plastics Group (FPG), by his second wife. Wong is now a widower with a son and a daughter after his wife died of stomach cancer in 2007. Wong holds degrees in physics, applied optics, and chemical engineering from Imperial College London. His English name was chosen during his study in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wally Herbert</span> British polar explorer

Sir Walter William Herbert was a British polar explorer, writer and artist. In 1969 he became the first man fully recognized for walking to the North Pole, on the 60th anniversary of Robert Peary's disputed expedition. He was described by Sir Ranulph Fiennes as "the greatest polar explorer of our time".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Swan</span> British adventurer

Robert Charles Swan, OBE, FRGS is the first person to walk to both poles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred Cheetham</span> British sea officer and polar explorer (1866–1918)

Alfred Cheetham was a member of several Antarctic expeditions. He served as third officer for both the Nimrod expedition and Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration</span> Period of history from the 1890s to the 1920s

The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration was an era in the exploration of the continent of Antarctica which began at the end of the 19th century, and ended after the First World War; the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition of 1921–1922 is often cited by historians as the dividing line between the "Heroic" and "Mechanical" ages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antarctica</span> Earths southernmost continent

Antarctica is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent, being about 40% larger than Europe, and has an area of 14,200,000 km2 (5,500,000 sq mi). Most of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, with an average thickness of 1.9 km (1.2 mi).

The Ice Challenger Expedition was an expedition to the geographic South Pole. The expedition's six man team used a six-wheel drive vehicle to cover about 1,000 miles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Pole</span> Southernmost point on Earth

The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipodally on the opposite side of Earth from the North Pole, at a distance of 20,004 km in all directions. It is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface.

The Concept Ice Vehicle or CIV was a bio-fuelled, propeller-powered vehicle that was developed for the Andrew Regan / Andrew Moon bid to cross the Antarctic in 2009. The Expedition was rescheduled to November 2010 and the Ice Vehicle was re-engineered and renamed the Winston Wong Bio-Inspired Ice Vehicle BIV. Professor Winston Wong is the sponsor of the Moon Regan Transantarctic Expedition 2010. The Expedition has several key objectives: to show that the right motorised vehicles can operate successfully and efficiently in the Antarctic, to successfully complete a transantarctic crossing and to help researchers at Imperial College London gather useful data on vehicle emissions, the performance of biofuels and human performance under extreme conditions. Few ground vehicles have, to date, been successful there; researchers who work across the continent tend to rely on air travel, which may be more environmentally damaging.

Jason De Carteret, born on the British island of Guernsey, is a polar explorer. He took part in the Ice Challenger Expedition and holds skiing and vehicle world records for polar exploration. He has worked as a commercial helicopter pilot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Index of Antarctica-related articles</span>

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Vernon "Vern" Tejas is an American mountain climber and mountain guide. He is the current world record holder in the amount of time taken to summit all of the Seven Summits consecutively, having also previously held the same record. He was also the first person to solo summit several of the world's tallest peaks. Tejas was named one of the top fifty Alaskan athletes of the twentieth century by Sports Illustrated in 2002. In 2012, he was elected to the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame. Tejas plays the harmonica and guitar. He currently resides in Greenwich Village, New York.

Stephen Haddelsey is a British author and historian specializing in Antarctic exploration. He earned his doctorate degree at the University of East Anglia, of which he is an Honorary Research Fellow. He is a fellow of both the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Historical Society. Since 2015 he has worked at the University of Lincoln.

The Ice Maiden expedition was a British Army expedition in which six women from the United Kingdom became the first female team to ski across the Antarctic continent using muscle power alone. The Ice Maidens were also the largest team to ski across the continent. The 1,704 km expedition began on 20 November 2017 and finished on 20 January 2018, lasting 62 days.

References

  1. 1 2 Moon-Regan Trans Antarctic Expedition. "Moon-Regan Trans Antarctic Expedition".
  2. ↑ Unknown (9 December 2010). "UK team claims fastest land crossing of Antarctica". BBC News (Press release). Antarctica.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Bland, Ben (3 September 2007). "Aim profile: Andrew Regan". The Telegraph (Press release). London. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 "Andrew Regan - Chief Executive". corvus.com. Archived from the original on 10 October 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  5. 1 2 Russel Hotten (29 April 1994). "Hobson to buy Co-op's food producer for £111m: Regan to triple size of household products company" . The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022.
  6. 1 2 "Regan matter is now closed". The Grocer . 5 March 2005. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
  7. 1 2 "Andrew Regan acquitted of theft of £2.4 million" (Press release). Serious Fraud Office. 6 August 2003. Archived from the original on 11 December 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2008.
  8. ↑ "SFO under fire after Regan acquitted in Co-op theft case". The Independent (Press release). 6 August 2003. Retrieved 15 July 2010. The second trial, earlier this year, was halted amid suggestions that the jury might have been subject to improper approaches by an unknown party.[ dead link ]
  9. 1 2 Aldrick, Philip (7 August 2003). "Regan walks free but faces Co-op challenge". The Daily Telegraph . London. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
  10. ↑ Tomlinson, Heather (10 August 2003). "The Thing Is: Andrew Regan". The Independent . London. Archived from the original on 1 December 2013. Retrieved 11 January 2008.
  11. ↑ "Regan's out-of-court settlement with Co-op Group". Co-operative News . 18 February 2005. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  12. ↑ Nick Robertson was anticipating a bumper Christmas for online fashion retailer Asos (18 December 2005). "Boom time to... Buncefield". The Guardian . London.
  13. ↑ Fletcher, Richard (20 June 2011). "With no shopping list in sight putting money in Vallares is more a gamble than an investment". The Daily Telegraph . London. For example ASOS, the online fashion retailer and stock market darling, was brought to the market by financier Andrew Regan, who reversed it into a shell.
  14. ↑ Richard Fletcher (6 June 2014). "Darling of the dotcoms was a born survivor". thetimes.co.uk/. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
  15. ↑ Based on SP of 52.25 GBp. "London Stock Exchange Website" . Retrieved 16 February 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  16. ↑ "Dr Andrew Regan" . Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  17. ↑ "Archives Top and Latest News". mint. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  18. ↑ "Graduate College Newsletter. Issue 4". brookes.ac.uk. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  19. ↑ Andrew J. Regan (2014). A system to predict the S&P 500 using a bio-inspired algorithm (PhD thesis). Oxford Brookes University.
  20. ↑ Andrew Regan travels to North Pole with Three of his children. "Junior Polar Traveller". Archived from the original on 21 June 2009.
  21. ↑ Beltran, Luisa (16 April 2014). "MVision's Guen risks extreme cold, polar bears for North Pole trip" (Press release). PEHUB.com. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  22. 1 2 Concepts, Voyage. "Ice Challenger - World Record for the fastest overland crossing to South Pole". Archived from the original on 28 November 2006. Retrieved 6 December 2006.
  23. ↑ Guinness world records 2008 . London: Guinness World Records. 2007. p.  97. ISBN   978-1-904994-18-3. OCLC   174109903.
  24. ↑ Moon-Regan Trans Antarctic Expedition route. "Moon-Regan Trans Antarctic Expedition expedition route".
  25. ↑ Winston Wong Bio-Inspired Ice Vehicle. "Winston Wong Bio-Inspired Ice Vehicle".
  26. ↑ Winston Wong Bio-Inspired Ice Vehicle. "Winston Wong Bio-Inspired Ice Vehicle".[ permanent dead link ]
  27. ↑ Imperial College London Article (11 June 2010). "Imperial College London Article".
  28. ↑ "Future". Ice Challenger Expedition. Archived from the original on 14 March 2008. Retrieved 19 March 2008. 'I've got six kids.'
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