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Joe Lewis Acquires 3% Of Colonial

30 January 2015 – El Economista

Lewis teamed up with George Soros in 1992 to speculate on the pound sterling

The English businessman Joseph Charles Lewis has invested in the share capital of the real estate company Colonial, acquiring a 3% stake worth around €58.3 million, based on current market prices.

The business tycoon, who lives in the Bahamas, thus becomes a shareholder of the property management company, whose primary shareholder is the Grupo Villar Mir.

96 million shares

According to records of the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), Joe Lewis has acquired a pack of 96 million shares in Colonial, which represents 3.02% of the company’s share capital.

Lewis’s investment comes almost a year after the real estate company, led by Juan José Bruguera, concluded a three-pronged restructuring, recapitalisation and debt refinancing process.

Soros’s partner

Joseph Charles Lewis began currency trading in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1992, he teamed up with George Soros to bet against the pound. Together, they forced the devaluation of the British currency, flooding the markets through the sale of more than 10,000 million pounds. The movement, for which they (reportedly) pocketed 1,000 million dollars, rendered the Bank of England powerless at the time.

Original story: El Economista

Translation: Carmel Drake