Rich List 2012: No.3 - John Caudwell (£1.6bn)
Phones4U, the mobile phone business set-up by Staffordshire entrepreneur John Caudwell, was sold in March in a £700 million private equity deal.
BC Partners, which owns gym and leisure chain Fitness First, acquired the firm from US parent company Providence Equity to whom John Caudwell sold it in 2006.
The deal was good news for John Caudwell who still held a stake in the firm, and added around £100 million to his fortune. Elsewhere, his property companies are also doing well, with more £3.7 million profit on £7 million sales.
Earlier in the year he received an honorary doctoral degree from Birmingham City University in recognition of his charity work. He set up Caudwell Children in 2000 to help provide specialist equipment, treatment and therapy for sick and disabled children in the UK.
As the charity’s largest benefactor he personally donates the cost of the charity’s annual management and administration overheads and is chairman of the board of trustees.
Caudwell Children continues to do great things for youngsters. To date Caudwell Children has provided services worth more than £13 million to thousands of children with more than 350 different medical conditions.
