Javad Marandi

OBE
BornFebruary 1968 (age 56)
Tehran, Iran
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Businessman and property developer
SpouseNarmina Alizadeh
Children3

Javad Marandi OBE (born February 1968) is a British businessman, property developer and Conservative Party donor, with investments in commercial and residential real estate.

Early life

Marandi was born in February 1968,[1] in Tehran, Iran.[citation needed] He moved to Britain in 1979, and studied Electrical and Electronics Engineering.[2] Marandi then qualified as a UK chartered accountant, at Coopers & Lybrand (now part of PricewaterhouseCoopers).[3] In the 1990s, he worked as a business development manager for The Coca-Cola Company in Central Asia, and the area manager for emerging markets at Philip Morris International, before starting his own businesses in tobacco distribution, advertising and telecommunications, eventually holding the franchise agreement for McDonald's in Azerbaijan.[2]

Investments

Property

Marandi has invested in numerous luxury establishments within the hospitality sector, including hotels such as Soho Farmhouse, Soho House group's country hotel and club in Oxfordshire, England, Chais Monnet, a 92-room luxury hotel, restaurant and retail development in Cognac, France, Sofitel Brussels, and CenterParc in Moselle, France.[2][4] He has also invested in restaurants such as Shirvan, Michelin starred-chef Akrame Benallal's high-end restaurant on Place d'Alma, in central Paris.[5]

Marandi is both an investor and developer in the UK property market.[2]

Retail

In 2014, Marandi took a majority stake in Wed2B,[6] a UK mid-market wedding apparel retailer, focused on regional UK towns and cities.[7] Since his involvement in the business, the company has expanded from three to over 40 stores.[8] Wed2B ranked in the FT1000 in both 2019 and 2020, and placed in the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 in both 2017 and 2018”[9][10] It ranks Britain's fastest-growing privately held companies by sales growth over the preceding three years.[11]

In March 2020, the Marandi family acquired 100% of the Conran Shop, the luxury interior design and furniture retailer founded by Sir Terence Conran in 1973.[12]

Logistics

Marandi held a controlling stake in Roth Gerueste, a Swiss market scaffolding and hi-tech building materials manufacturer until early 2021.[13] Lux Magazine published an interview with him in 2016 on investing in Switzerland.[14]

Legal disputes

In May 2023, Marandi lost a 19-month legal battle with the BBC to remain anonymous regarding a National Crime Agency (NCA) global money laundering investigation. On 16 May 2023, it was reported that the NCA found some of Marandi's overseas interests had been involved in the Azerbaijani laundromat money-laundering scheme.[15]

Philanthropy

The Marandi Foundation supports children's health and education; and cultural history and art.[16] Marandi is also chairman of the advisory board of The Watercolour World, a charity working to provide online public access to thousands of documentary watercolours from all over the world.[17] The goal of the charity is to collate a unique visual history of the world.[18] The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall are joint patrons of the Watercolour World, which is chaired by Fred Hohler.[19] In March 2021, Marandi was appointed co-chair to the Growth Board of homelessness charity Centrepoint.[20] In 2021, The Marandi Foundation partnered with the Conran Shop on the New Designer of the Future Award, which supports creative talent denoting an accolade and a £40,000 in investment money to further develop the winner's ideas.[21][22]

Personal life

In 2013 the Marandi family, one of Azerbaijan's richest, was thought to live in a house in Eaton Square in London's Belgravia sold in 2007 for £3.8 million, and in 2010 for £20.5 million. This led to legal difficulties.[23] Marandi was reported to have "two private jets and a passion for vintage wine".

He donates to the Conservative Party. He donated £756,300 between 2014 and 2020 and £250,000 during the 2019 United Kingdom general election campaign.[15][24][25][26]

His wife Narmina is the daughter of Ali Alizadeh, an oncologist in Baku, Azerbaijan.[3] Javad and Narmina are investors in Anya Hindmarch and Emilia Wickstead, the London-based fashion houses.[27] Narmina is a co-chair of the British Fashion Council Foundation[28] as well as a patron and board member of the BFC Fashion Trust and co-head of the Cultural and Social Committee of the Serpentine Galleries.[29][30][31]

Marandi was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to business and philanthropy.[32]

References

  1. ^ "KSJ Theatre Investments Limited – Officers (free information from Companies House)". Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d Ashton, James (15 January 2017). "Javad Marandi: from Iranian immigrant to Soho House investor". The Telegraph. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Javad Marandi: British Investment Guru Reveals His Venture Secrets |". Lux-mag.com. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  4. ^ "Communiqué : Début du chantier d'un nouvel hôtel de luxe à Cognac". Tendance Hotellerie. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  5. ^ "Akrame Benallal launches Shirvan Café Métisse in Paris". Luxury Lifestyle Magazine. 23 March 2017. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  6. ^ Hipwell, Deirdre. "A wedding dress with all the frills but less expense". The Times. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  7. ^ Kilgannon, Laurence (23 February 2017). "Hull opening for expanding Wed2B". Insider Media. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
  8. ^ "Store finder". WED2B. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  9. ^ Kelly, Maxine (2 March 2020). "FT 1000: the fourth annual list of Europe's fastest-growing companies". www.ft.com. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  10. ^ Baker, Hannah (12 December 2018). "The Bristol wedding shop that sells luxury dresses for under £600". Bristol Post. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  11. ^ "WED2B". Fast Track 100. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  12. ^ Wong, Henry (24 March 2020). "The "loss-making" Conran Shop has been sold to new owners". Design Week. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  13. ^ Rigby, Rhymer (26 September 2016). "Roth Gerüste: Advanced Scaffolding Secrets Revealed". ScaffMag. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
  14. ^ Javad Marandi, British Investor (11 April 2016). "Secrets to Investing in Switzerland" (Interview). Interviewed by Lux Magazine.
  15. ^ a b Swann, Steve; Casciani, Dominic (16 May 2023). "Javad Marandi: Tory donor's link to massive money laundering probe". BBC News.
  16. ^ "The Marandi Foundation". Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  17. ^ "The Watercolour World- The Project". The Watercolour World. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  18. ^ Harris, Miriam. "Thousands of Historical Watercolours to be Available Online in a Digital Archive". Digital Arts. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  19. ^ Low, Valentine. "Former diplomat Fred Hohler will show 30,000 watercolours as a record of how the world once looked". The Times. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  20. ^ Driscoll, Margarette (20 March 2021). "'My friend Prince William is no racist'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  21. ^ Long, Molly (12 August 2021). "Ladder design wins inaugural £40,000 Conran legacy award". Design Week. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  22. ^ "Following in Sir Terence Conran's footsteps: how the pandemic has inspired a bold new era of design". International Business Times UK. 16 September 2021. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  23. ^ Armitage, Jim (21 December 2013). "The Duke of Westminster, the property tycoon and the missing millions". The Independent.
  24. ^ David Pegg, Helena Bengtsson and Holly Watt, "Revealed: the tycoons and world leaders who built secret UK property empires", The Guardian, 5 April 2016
  25. ^ Rajeev Syal, "Conservatives raise 10 times more than Labour in late donations", The Guardian, 5 May 2015
  26. ^ "View donation: Javad Marandi, Q4 2019". The Electoral Commission. 25 February 2020.
  27. ^ Conti, Samantha (28 March 2019). "Marandi Family Buys Stake in Anya Hindmarch From Mayhoola". WWD. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  28. ^ Roberts, Lauretta (29 April 2021). "British Fashion Council Charity appoints co-chairs to help it meet fundraising target of £2m | The Industry Fashion". www.theindustry.fashion/. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  29. ^ "British Fashion Trust". British Fashion Council. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  30. ^ "BFC Fashion Trust Announces Its 2017 Grant Recipients" (PDF). British Fashion Council. 24 May 2017.
  31. ^ "Thank You". Serpentine Galleries. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  32. ^ "No. 62866". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 December 2019. p. N13.
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