Latest news with #PeterWaddell
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Who's the boss? The ousted car sales tycoon versus his private equity investor
In many ways, Peter Waddell is lucky to be alive, let alone a multimillionaire. His backstory involves him wandering the streets of Glasgow after parental abuse left him in a children's home during the 1970s. And yet Waddell went on to build a used car empire called Big Motoring World, accumulating an estimated £500m fortune, a historic home on the outskirts of London and a string of performance cars. But now the 59-year-old faces another challenging chapter, which is threatening chunks of his fortune. The used car salesman has brought an employment tribunal claim as well as a high court case against private equity investors in his company after he was ousted from Big last year. His exit, in April 2024, was triggered after an investigation found he had made sexist, racist and abusive comments towards colleagues – allegations that he contests. However, Waddell goes further than simply denying the claims, raising questions about how private equity firms interact with founders once the financiers have invested in their companies. His court filings allege he was prevented from responding to the accusations, and that they were used by his 'capricious' investors who 'prejudged and in fact determined the outcome of [an] independent investigation as a means of securing Peter Waddell's exclusion from Big'. Now it looks likely that a court will have to assess whether Waddell's alleged behaviour demanded he be sidelined from the business he created. A surprising second question will also be in play: does Waddell's ousting make him a victim? When entrepreneurs give interviews about their big career break, they often tell tales about dropping out of university to launch a startup or hustling for jobs they were barely qualified for. Waddell's tale is very different. The businessman, who is autistic, has dyslexia and is partially deaf, for which he now wears two hearing aids, has a story that involves being physically abused by his mother. 'She scarred my whole body, attempted to cut my hands off and smashed my head,' he said in a recent interview. From toddler age onwards he spent most of his childhood in a children's home. From there he graduated to living on the streets, describing himself as a 'tramp'. Homeless and desperate for warmth during one particularly biting winter day, Waddell wound up at Glasgow's Buchanan bus station where he shielded himself from the cold behind a pile of suitcases in the boot of a parked coach. The door was slammed behind him and the teenager finally emerged in London. In the capital he recalls landing a job at a minicab office and eventually ploughing his earnings into buying cars at auction, which he lined up in parking spaces along the road near a flat he had managed to rent. This was the genesis of Big Motoring World, which grew to a company with 525 employees, revenues of £371m and profits of £6.6m, according to the company's 2021 annual accounts. Those figures attracted investors and in April 2022 Freshstream, a private equity group, acquired about a third of the business, with the option of eventually buying out Waddell's remaining shares. The businessman planned to retire to Spain and enjoy his string of homes, luxury cars and helicopter. But it didn't work out like that. Within two years the used car market had stalled and the two parties were at war. With the business beginning to struggle, Freshstream started to doubt whether it wanted Waddell running Big and so began to explore potential avenues. Freshstream's contract gave it 'step in rights', where it could take action against Waddell if the business underperformed. It also possessed a nuclear option: removing Waddell from his company if he had committed a grave offence that might affect Big's value – a 'material default event', in the jargon. At the start of last year, Freshstream and the company's management opened an investigation into accusations concerning how the founder spoke to staff, customers and business partners. The allegations that emerged were shocking. The claims, some of which were historical and were not formally dealt with by the company at the time, included 'extremely serious racist abuse and sexual harassment of female employees', according to defence filings submitted to the high court by a Freshstream holding company. 'Serious instances of racism including allegedly referring to Hindu people as [the car marque] 'Hyundais',' the Freshstream papers add. 'Serious allegations of sexual harassment including allegedly … telling a female cleaner: 'I bet you'd like to suck my dick?'' The papers also allege that Waddell called 'senior members of the management team the 'C word'' and suggested 'he would 'give it to them up the arse''. In total, Freshstream investigated 27 allegations, some of which Waddell denies and some of which he claims were taken out of context. 'The allegations are fake,' Waddell told the Guardian. 'We will prove it in the court case.' Waddell's high court filings deal mostly with process, with the tycoon stating that he was not allowed to defend himself during the group's internal investigation, which he alleges was set up to oust him. Waddell's claim says it is difficult for him to 'easily read and digest information'. He had been signed off work by a doctor for four weeks with a heart condition on 28 March 2024, the court papers say, and was invited five days later – on 2 April – to an 'investigation interview' that would take place on 9 April. At the interview, 764 pages of evidence were to be considered. Waddell's lawyers requested more time but the company pressed on without him, on the basis that there would be an 'intolerable risk' to the business in delaying. The investigation's final report, which was written by the employment lawyer Nicholas Siddall KC, runs to 138 pages. In it, Siddall suggests he was instructed to come to a conclusion in the absence of any response by the accused; he also seems to raise questions about why the company had concluded there would be an 'intolerable risk' in granting Waddell extra time in which to respond. 'Plainly I had hoped to interview PW [Peter Waddell] in order to receive his version of events,' the KC's report states. 'However, my instructions … were clear. I was not informed of the intolerable risk which [Big Motoring World] would face, and in any event I do not consider it is a matter for me to interrogate the reasons of those who instruct me.' Siddall found, having interviewed 22 sources, that a 'material default event' had occurred in 15 out of the 27 allegations. Waddell was out. All of which means this row – along with a separate claim about how Waddell came to invest some of his fortune in a Freshstream fund – looks likely to be fought out in the high court, probably next year. But whichever way the judge leans, other entrepreneurs have made comparable allegations. The Guardian has spoken to four other British founders of startup businesses who wished to remain anonymous but make similar claims that various investors had attempted to oust them from their companies. None of these allegations were ever tested in court. In Waddell's case, that seems about to change.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Who's the boss? The ousted car sales tycoon versus his private equity investor
In many ways, Peter Waddell is lucky to be alive, let alone a multimillionaire. His backstory involves him wandering the streets of Glasgow after parental abuse left him in a children's home during the 1970s. And yet Waddell went on to build a used car empire called Big Motoring World, accumulating an estimated £500m fortune, a historic home on the outskirts of London and a string of performance cars. But now the 59-year-old faces another challenging chapter, which is threatening chunks of his fortune. The used car salesman has brought an employment tribunal claim as well as a high court case against private equity investors in his company after he was ousted from Big last year. His exit, in April 2024, was triggered after an investigation found he had made sexist, racist and abusive comments towards colleagues – allegations that he contests. However, Waddell goes further than simply denying the claims, raising questions about how private equity firms interact with founders once the financiers have invested in their companies. His court filings allege he was prevented from responding to the accusations, and that they were used by his 'capricious' investors who 'prejudged and in fact determined the outcome of [an] independent investigation as a means of securing Peter Waddell's exclusion from Big'. Now it looks likely that a court will have to assess whether Waddell's alleged behaviour demanded he be sidelined from the business he created. A surprising second question will also be in play: does Waddell's ousting make him a victim? When entrepreneurs give interviews about their big career break, they often tell tales about dropping out of university to launch a startup or hustling for jobs they were barely qualified for. Waddell's tale is very different. The businessman, who is autistic, has dyslexia and is partially deaf, for which he now wears two hearing aids, has a story that involves being physically abused by his mother. 'She scarred my whole body, attempted to cut my hands off and smashed my head,' he said in a recent interview. From toddler age onwards he spent most of his childhood in a children's home. From there he graduated to living on the streets, describing himself as a 'tramp'. Homeless and desperate for warmth during one particularly biting winter day, Waddell wound up at Glasgow's Buchanan bus station where he shielded himself from the cold behind a pile of suitcases in the boot of a parked coach. The door was slammed behind him and the teenager finally emerged in London. In the capital he recalls landing a job at a minicab office and eventually ploughing his earnings into buying cars at auction, which he lined up in parking spaces along the road near a flat he had managed to rent. This was the genesis of Big Motoring World, which grew to a company with 525 employees, revenues of £371m and profits of £6.6m, according to the company's 2021 annual accounts. Those figures attracted investors and in April 2022 Freshstream, a private equity group, acquired about a third of the business, with the option of eventually buying out Waddell's remaining shares. The businessman planned to retire to Spain and enjoy his string of homes, luxury cars and helicopter. But it didn't work out like that. Within two years the used car market had stalled and the two parties were at war. With the business beginning to struggle, Freshstream started to doubt whether it wanted Waddell running Big and so began to explore potential avenues. Freshstream's contract gave it 'step in rights', where it could take action against Waddell if the business underperformed. It also possessed a nuclear option: removing Waddell from his company if he had committed a grave offence that might affect Big's value – a 'material default event', in the jargon. At the start of last year, Freshstream and the company's management opened an investigation into accusations concerning how the founder spoke to staff, customers and business partners. The allegations that emerged were shocking. The claims, some of which were historical and were not formally dealt with by the company at the time, included 'extremely serious racist abuse and sexual harassment of female employees', according to defence filings submitted to the high court by a Freshstream holding company. 'Serious instances of racism including allegedly referring to Hindu people as [the car marque] 'Hyundais',' the Freshstream papers add. 'Serious allegations of sexual harassment including allegedly … telling a female cleaner: 'I bet you'd like to suck my dick?'' The papers also allege that Waddell called 'senior members of the management team the 'C word'' and suggested 'he would 'give it to them up the arse''. In total, Freshstream investigated 27 allegations, some of which Waddell denies and some of which he claims were taken out of context. 'The allegations are fake,' Waddell told the Guardian. 'We will prove it in the court case.' Waddell's high court filings deal mostly with process, with the tycoon stating that he was not allowed to defend himself during the group's internal investigation, which he alleges was set up to oust him. Waddell's claim says it is difficult for him to 'easily read and digest information'. He had been signed off work by a doctor for four weeks with a heart condition on 28 March 2024, the court papers say, and was invited five days later – on 2 April – to an 'investigation interview' that would take place on 9 April. At the interview, 764 pages of evidence were to be considered. Waddell's lawyers requested more time but the company pressed on without him, on the basis that there would be an 'intolerable risk' to the business in delaying. The investigation's final report, which was written by the employment lawyer Nicholas Siddall KC, runs to 138 pages. In it, Siddall suggests he was instructed to come to a conclusion in the absence of any response by the accused; he also seems to raise questions about why the company had concluded there would be an 'intolerable risk' in granting Waddell extra time in which to respond. 'Plainly I had hoped to interview PW [Peter Waddell] in order to receive his version of events,' the KC's report states. 'However, my instructions … were clear. I was not informed of the intolerable risk which [Big Motoring World] would face, and in any event I do not consider it is a matter for me to interrogate the reasons of those who instruct me.' Siddall found, having interviewed 22 sources, that a 'material default event' had occurred in 15 out of the 27 allegations. Waddell was out. All of which means this row – along with a separate claim about how Waddell came to invest some of his fortune in a Freshstream fund – looks likely to be fought out in the high court, probably next year. But whichever way the judge leans, other entrepreneurs have made comparable allegations. The Guardian has spoken to four other British founders of startup businesses who wished to remain anonymous but make similar claims that various investors had attempted to oust them from their companies. None of these allegations were ever tested in court. In Waddell's case, that seems about to change.
Time of India
25-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Inside a London mansion that's been home to history
Big Motoring World founder Peter Waddell is putting his historic, Greater London country estate on the market. Holwood House, which has been the residence of a prime minister and hosted scientists and statesman, is listed with Knight Frank for £23.5 million ($31.1 million). #Pahalgam Terrorist Attack Pakistan suspends Simla pact: What it means & who's affected What is India's defence muscle if it ever has to attack? Can Pakistan afford a full-scale war with India? The 59-year-old-Waddell, who says he's retiring and going to live full time in Spain—where he has a replica of Holwood House—has a story to tell about when he first bought the place in 2018. It coincided with another big event in his life: the birth of his son. Waddell recounts a conversation with his financial adviser, who told him to stop leaving all his money in the bank and suggested that he buy a bigger house. 'I was waiting for the baby to arrive at the Portland Hospital and went on [property website] Rightmove and saw the house and knew that was it,' says Waddell. He went out to see the house the day after his son was born and was impressed by the sheer scale of the home and the privacy it offered. 'I liked the house, but I told the agent I have one problem, and he said, 'What's that?'—sort of sighing like, 'Here we go, another time waster,'' Waddell explains, adding that he told the agent: 'My wife just had a baby, so I can't drag her out of bed today to see the house. Can we come back in a week's time?' Waddell and his wife did come back a week later and ended up making the purchase for around £8.5 million, according to Land Registry public records. He says he's spent some £18 million on renovations and improvements. Seven years later, he's put the property on the market. A buyer gets a 25,000-square-foot home with seven bedrooms, five bathrooms and 40 acres of grounds with additional staff accommodation. The list price is less than the total Waddell says he spent on the house including renovations, but London's housing market has been under pressure from taxes, the trade war and high interest rates. Waddell owns one of the finest country houses in South East England now, but he doesn't come from wealth. He grew up in a children's home in Scotland and moved to London when he was just 16. He launched his business in the 1980s with a small car showroom that he expanded into a multimillion-dollar automotive business. Inside the House Holwood House is set on a gated private road that meanders through mature oaks. Waddell says he instructed staff to plant some 68,000 daffodil bulbs along the approach, which were in bloom in early April. The house has two floors and an extensive basement, which includes cardio and weight gyms, a wine cellar and substantial storage space. The entrance opens into a grand entry hall, with one hallway leading into the bespoke Clive Christian kitchen and the other into a wing used primarily for entertainment. In that wing, there's a drawing room, a games room with a snooker table as well as Waddell's favorite part of the home—the cinema room with lounge reclining seating, where he can kick his feet up and relax. 'We spent hundreds of thousand of pounds on the cinema room,' says Waddell. 'We have a moving screen and acoustics all done by a company called Synergy Controls who do all the billionaire houses in London.' There's also an indoor swimming pool, a wet lounge, a changing room and a sauna on the ground floor. The pool area opens onto the porch, where there are sun loungers to relax on on a warm day. Outside, there's a tennis court, a walled garden and a new machinery warehouse for tractors and lawn equipment. Up the grand staircase on the second floor, there are seven bedrooms. The principal suite, which offers views to the parkland, includes his and hers dressing rooms. Peter Jr.'s bedroom is on the second floor, too; Waddell installed special features in the wing for his son, such as a bathtub that lights up and plays music. It's all part of what he characterizes as technological investments to make the home suitable for his family, both for security purposes—like biometric entrances with thumbprints—and touches of fun and personality. 'Just to give you an example, if you are driving up the road with me, and I said, 'What's your favorite color?' And you say to me, 'Pink.' From my phone, I can press a button, and when you arrive at the gates, the gardens, the house, the whole area will light up in pink.' There's also a four-car garage on the property, filled with Ferraris and Bentleys, but Waddell says he recently won a prolonged battle with the local council to get permission to build a £20 million garage to host his fleet of supercars. 'It's taken me five years and a lot of money to get permissions,' says Waddell. The garage has not been built. About the History Waddell's house is in the South East London borough of Bromley, around 14 miles from the financial district of Canary Wharf. On a fast train, it takes 18 minutes from Orpington Station to London Bridge station, but Waddell says he's preferred to travel by helicopter and frequently lands a chopper on the grounds. 'You can park at Chelsea Harbor in the helicopter port. You can be there in four minutes and then shortly at Harrods afterwards,' he says. Holwood House is Grade I listed, meaning the highest level of importance, and there is a impressive list of significant historical figures who've owned or visited the property. The UK's youngest prime minister, William Pitt, first bought the property in 1785 for £8,950—about £1.2 million in today's money, based on the Bank of England's inflation calculator. In May 1787, Pitt met with his close friend the abolitionist campaigner William Wilberforce on the grounds under an oak tree, and Wilberforce told Pitt of his intentions to bring a bill to the House of Commons to abolish the slave trade. In the 1820s, the house was demolished and rebuilt under a new owner, who enlisted the era's fashionable architect Decimus Burton to design it in the Greek Revival style. Charles Darwin was a frequent visitor to the newly built property, and he would conduct experiments and have picnics on the expansive grounds. Later, Winston Churchill dined at the house, which was under threat of bombing during World War II due to its close proximity to Biggin Hill Airport. 'The house is so big and beautiful and has loads of history,' says Waddell. As to who will be the next owner, Waddell thinks it will likely be someone in business, especially given the house's easy commute to the City of London, or another notable person. 'We've had a few offers before, but we weren't ready to sell. We've had a few footballers, a few actors who made offers, but I wasn't selling then.' It was Waddell's family home, and he wasn't ready to part with it. 'But now I'm retired,' he says. 'I don't need two big homes. I only need one.'
