Nicholas Sutton

Nicholas Sutton (born 18 August 1969) is a property developer, who has become well known for his abortive deal with Mohammed Al-Fayed to purchase Craven Cottage, home of Fulham Football Club for £50 million. He is a leading figure in property development in the UK and was named Young Property Person of the Year in 2002 by Property Magazine.

Biography

Born 18 August 1969 in Birchington, Kent.

Educated at:

• Sompting Abbotts Preparatory School, Worthing, West Sussex from 1975 to 1983;
• Brighton College, Eastern Road, Brighton from 1983 to 1988;
• University of Exeter from 1988 to 1991.

He met his future wife, Her Imperial Highness, The Princess Ayşe Gülnev Osmanoğlu Sultan, (b. Henley-on-Thames, Oxon, 17 January 1971) while studying at University. They married in 1994 and now have five children. Her Imperial Highness, The Princess Ayse Sultan is the daughter of His Imperial Highness The Prince Şehzade Osman Selaheddin Osmanoğlu Efendi, Imperial Prince of the Ottoman Empire (b. Alexandria, 7 July 1940) and Her Highness, Athena Joy Christoforides Hanımefendi, (b. London, 9 March 1944) who married in London, on 27 August 1966.

Upon Mr. Sutton's marriage to an Imperial Princess of the Ottoman Empire (from the paternal side), Mr. Sutton became His Excellency Damad Nicholas Nelson Sutton Beyefendi.

Qualifications and awards

• On leaving University joined Arthur Andersen in London where he trained and qualified as an accountant.
• Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.
• Member of the Institute of Taxation.
• Named by Property Week magazine as the Young Property Person of the Year in 2002.

Career

Nick Sutton was a student at Exeter University and made his first foray into the property market by buying properties, refurbishing and letting them out for student accommodation. He set up his first company, Imperial Property Co ^[1], in 1997 while still at university.

After training with Arthur Andersen he joined Dilmun Investment Advisors Ltd, a subsidiary of Bahrain International Bank, in November 1994 as Assistant Director Real Estate Investment Banking.

In 1995 he set up Crown Dilmun on behalf of his employer, to specialise in inner-city residential projects in London, Glasgow, Manchester, Bristol, Newcastle and Brighton. He specialised in turning listed buildings into modern high-specification apartments.

While Managing Director of Crown Dilmun he negotiated development of the famous 160,000 sq ft (15,000 m²) Harrods Depository site in Trevor Square, Knightsbridge which was bought from Muhammed Al-Fayed for £52.5 million in 2001. The famous Grade II listed building was converted into forty apartments, a penthouse, two townhouses and two mews houses, 48,000 sq ft (4,500 m²) of retail spaces and offices in a £140 million project.

In November 2002 he left Crown Dilmun. In January 2003 he was revealed as the person behind the agreement to purchase Craven Cottage for £50million. ^[2] The Cottage is the home of Fulham Football Club and was offered for sale by Fulham owner Mohamed Al-Fayed. Although this deal fell through the proposal was the subject of an acrimonious court battle between Nick Sutton and his previous employer, Crown Dilmun ^[3] which culminated in a twelve day court case in the High Court in December 2003. The resulting judgment found in favour of Crown Dilmun with Mr Justice Smith finding that Mr Sutton had breached the fiduciary duties that he owed his then employer ^[4]. While Nick Sutton has stated he believes the judgement to be wrong he did not appeal ^[5].

From November 2002 he has concentrated full time on Imperial Property Company, which he and his wife founded in 1997.

References

1. ^ Imperial Property Company
2. ^ "Sutton: Nobody's stripping Fulham" article
3. ^ "Struggle develops over Craven Cottage" article
4. ^ Case No: HC03C005582
5. ^ "Crown Dilmun wins court battle over Craven Cottage" article

Another Nick Sutton acted in the movie Gummo.