This Rolls Royce Phantom Coupe is reported to be owned by the Sultan of Brunei’s family.

The Sultan has a sizable private fortune derived from his total control over the national economy’s finances and the appropriation of the state’s sizeable oil revenues to bankroll his extravagant lifestyle.

The Sultan’s fortunes, in line with oil prices, have fluctuated since an estimated high of $55.63 billion in 1997, which made him the richest man in the world at the time.

Sultan of Brunei’s family is reported to own around 5000 vehicles that are all logged into a central computer system. If not driven by immediate members of the family, then they are used by government officials and members of the royal household.

Perfect Knowledge is a private company that offers a private fixer service to VIP’s, senior executives and ultra high net worth individuals (UHNWI). We provide a discreet service that manages private and personal affairs on behalf of our clients. Our focus is to ensure total privacy for the individual or organisation at all times. Our services are aimed at private banks, offshore trusts, celebrities, royal family management, private families and discerning individuals where money is no object and discretion is paramount.

www.perfect-knowledge.com

Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan of Brunei is the proud collector of what is undeniably the world’s most unique and gargantuan car collection.

The Sultan of Brunei’s collection of over 7,000 cars includes some of the fastest, most expensive and rarest motors on the planet.

According to the Daily Mirror, he owns 604 Rolls Royces, 574 Mercedes-Benzes, 452 Ferraris, 382 Bentleys, 209 BMWs, 179 Jaguars, 134 Koenigseggs, 21 Lamborghinis, 11 Aston Martins, and 1 SSC.

The complete collection is stored and serviced in five secret aircraft hangars, where specialist teams from the various manufacturers maintain it.

Total price of the collection containing 7,000 high performance cars is $ 5,000,000,000.

Perfect Knowledge is a private company that offers a bespoke service to VIP’s, senior executives and ultra high net worth individuals (UHNWI). We provide a discreet service that manages private and personal affairs on behalf of our clients. Our focus is to ensure total privacy for the individual or organisation at all times. Our services are aimed at private banks, offshore trusts, celebrities, royal family management, private families and discerning individuals where money is no object and discretion is paramount.

www.perfect-knowledge.com

In what could be called as a lavish fight, a pair of rival billionaires set a new world record at a French nightclub to see who could order the most champagne.

Zhen Low – the younger brother of big-spending Malaysian billionaire Jho Low – squared off against Winston Fisher of the prominent New York real-estate family Thursday night at Les Caves du Roy nightclub in St. Tropez.

The bill? A staggering 2 million euros, or $2.6 million, according to an announcement made at the club.

Guests included Paris Hilton, the socialite, who helped the cherubic Jho celebrate his 28th birthday with a four-day party in Las Vegas last year.

Perfect Knowledge is a private company that offers a bespoke service to VIP’s, senior executives and ultra high net worth individuals (UHNWI). We provide a discreet service that manages private and personal affairs on behalf of our clients. Our focus is to ensure total privacy for the individual or organisation at all times. Our services are aimed at private banks, offshore trusts, celebrities, royal family management, private families and discerning individuals where money is no object and discretion is paramount.

www.perfect-knowledge.com

Perfect Knowledge Ltd

Of all the services available to the super-rich, that which is uttered by a Private Fixer of www.perfect-knowledge.com is perhaps the most intriguing. Even the job title carries an aura of mystery. I am reminded of the John Travolta character in the movie Pulp Fiction, or a Philip Marlowe-like figure skulking about in the shadows in classic film noir. But there is no cigar or bowler hat in sight as Ifzaal Khan, an articulate and charismatic thirty-something, settles in front of me in a luxury hotel in Chelsea.

“My clients are high net worth individuals,” explains Khan, from Perfect Knowledge Ltd “Mostly CEOs. MDs, titles and aristocracy. Yes, I look after a few celebrities too, but they tend to be too high profile, so normally I deal with people from the international high society. Most are English, but some are American, Arab, Russian, and a few are Asian. Many are not even listed in the Sunday Times Rich lists because they might have most of their money held in trusts or assets. They come to me because I’m not part of their staff, I’m on the outside, and they may not want their staff to know everything. They could just be visiting for three or four weeks, and there are often financial incentives in asking an outsider to do things.”

Khan explains that his job is part of a long tradition of private secretaries, PAs and courtiers, but it is not a concierge service. So what does a Private Fixer actually do? “It depends on what a client wants, really,” says Khan. “For example, I might help somebody source and buy a properties off market. One person asked me to find him an off-market property for £20 million, and I knew somebody who wanted to sell, so I liaised between the two. Another asked me to find a £4 million house in Chelsea for his daughter. Somebody has also asked me to set up a property company, so I’m currently in the process of doing that, Commercial property is where the money is, so I’ve been trying to get more involved in that and it’s really taken off in the last few months.”

Private Billion Execution

The job isn’t only to do with property though; it also involves providing a personal courier service. Khan relays this wonderful anecdote: “A client left his rare 1930s £200,000 Rolex in the penthouse of a five star hotel in London, It had been in his wife’s family for generations and she had given it to him, so it had sentimental value. He asked me to pick it up and take it to Luton Airport. When I got there, I was directed to Harrods Aviation, which is a private aviation service for businesses. As! arrived, I was told to board a plane and was flown to Geneva, where a chauffer-drivcn car ‘vas wailing to take me to the client’s house. There I had dinner with him and handed over the watch personally.” So, not just a typical day in the office then.

Other jobs have involved picking up several expensive pieces of jewellery and watches to be repaired at Harrods; establishing a finance company; setting up a warehouse from scratch for a client who wanted to store high value goods; negotiating with yacht brokers, and chaperoning an extremely rich hut ill client to see her sister. “One gentleman has asked me to sell three Picassos. which he doesn’t want to do through the auction houses. I don’t know anything about art,” smiles Khan, “but I’m a fast learner.”

Khan offers these services through his Chelsea-based company, www.perfect-knowledge.com which he set up over a year and a half ago. Asked how long he has been a fixer for, he says mischievously, “Since I was 16 and growing up in Oxford. I was always fixing things for people — whether fellow students or visiting aunties.” Before setting up his company, he researched the job for two years and built up an enormous contacts book. Having a clear vision of what you want to achieve is imperative, he says, as preparation met with opportunity is the key to success.

Khan works with six colleagues, who between them are based in London. Oxford, Geneva and Dubai. They are all childhood friends whom he trusts implicitly. “I would never reveal my clients’ names, not even to family or friends, and as each person is given a unique code even my colleagues don’t find out who they are. Privacy, confidentiality and discretion are key to this job. Many of my clients came to me via word of mouth recommendations, a few I approached myself when circumstances were right. It takes a long time to build up trust. We don’t want people selling stories to the papers.”

Other qualities needed for a job like this are diplomacy, the ability to get on with a wide range of people and, as Khan puts it, “Knowing when to listen and when to talk, These are highly successful individuals who know the industry they’re working in inside out. They don’t want unsolicited advice.” Indeed so important is the client-fixer relationship that Khan. who combines a deep knowledge of the super-rich lifestyle with street savvy and common sense, says he’s turned down projects from those who he believes would be demanding and make his job difficult in the long run.

So whether accompanying multi-millionaires to top venues like Cipriani’s, Scott’s, Mark’s Club, or Harry’s Bar — or indeed ‘summer season’ events like Ascot or Wimbledon – there is plenty of variety. “I juggle many things, sometimes working up to 20 hours a day, and I admit the job encroaches on my private life,” says Khan, who previously worked at the Home Office for seven years, “but I could never work nine to five again. This is a unique job in a small. niche market. It brings me lots of opportunities. .~ and I’m always learning something new. No two days are ever the same.”

AWMAGAZINE 2010
Email: Pr@perfect-knowledge.com

www.perfect-knowledge.com

Victoria Beckham’s 100-strong Birkin bag collection that’s worth £1.5m

Victoria Beckham is well known for her extravagant taste in fashion, but news that she owns 100 Hermès Birkin bags is likely to be seen as nothing less than excessive.

A US financial website worked out that the sometime pop star’s collection of the coveted bag alone is worth £1.5million.

Thebigmoney.com revealed that the 35-year-old owns around 100 of the style, which start at £4,200 for the basic model.

Bag of the month: In the last couple of weeks Victoria Beckham has shown off three of her 100 Hermès Birkin handbags. Seen at Heathrow airport, arriving in Milan and at a New York restaurant

Of course, La Beckham is not one to settle for basic. As countless photographs will testify, she regularly carries luxurious versions in pink ostrich skin and glossy black crocodile, worth up to £42,000 each, as well as the rare ‘Silver Himalayan’ style, which, at £80,000, comes complete with three-carat diamond.

As long as it’s a Birkin: Starting at a staggering £4,200 Victoria Beckham accessorises with a baby blue version on a shopping trip in LA in April; plumps for plum on yet another airport dash in March; and chooses a bright red bag for a trip to New York last summer

The bag, which was designed in 1984 by French fashion house Hermès and named after the actress Jane Birkin, is seen as a fashion classic.

It follows in the footsteps of the 1935 Kelly bag – named after Princess Grace of Monaco because of her many appearances with it.

The Birkin was allegedly created after the company’s CEO Jean Louis Dumas sat next to the actress on a Paris to London flight.

Hermès habit: Victoria with her red Birkin at a children’s party in March last year; at JFK airport with her pink ostrich bag in September 2007; in Dubai with the £80,000 Silver Himalayan version in January this year

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1184169/Bag-lady-Victoria-Beckhams-100-strong-Birkin-bag-collection-thats-worth-1-5m.html#ixzz0uFC8hwIm

Britain’s Bollygarchs

The new tribe of Indian billionaires has its capital in London. Clive Aslet profiles 20 of these Bollygarchs who love nothing more than prime Kensington property and weekends in the country

1. LAKSHMI MITTAL   $28.7bn
Lakshmi Mittal does not court publicity, but neither – being among the handful of richest people on the planet – can he escape it. Born into a business family from the Indian state of Rajasthan in 1950, he founded the Mittal Steel Company in 1976, and it’s now the largest steelmaker in the world. Mittal’s $28.7bn fortune makes him not only the richest man in the UK but in Europe. His London house in Kensington Palace Gardens is nothing short of a palace, setting a property record when it was bought for £70m in 2003.

2. SRICHAND AND GOPICHAND HINDUJA   $12.4bn
There are four Hinduja brothers, two of them, Srichand and Gopichand, based in London. They moved here in 1979, to develop their father’s trading business. They are now the second richest Asians in Britain, after Lakshmi Mittal, with 25,000 people employed by the Hinduja Group round the world. Extremely retiring, they have given little away about their personal lives, beyond the contribution that they have made to the building of two Hindu temples in the south-east, not to mention the £1.5m that they contributed to the Millennium Dome. Their home is in Carlton House Terrace.

3. SUNIL MITTAL   $12bn
The son of a politician, 52-year-old Sunil Mittal began his business life, after Punjab University, as a bicycle parts dealer in New Delhi. His Bharti Group is now the largest mobile phone operator in India, with over 121m subscribers. He is also reorganising the way India shops through a joint venture with WalMart. The Times of India puts his net worth at $12bn.

Born on 23 October, Mittal was also married on the 23rd of the month and has made 23 his lucky number. His wife is an Indian from Scotland. Five years ago, he said he might retire at 50 but this has not happened. Instead he travels constantly, coming to London, like many of the Indian community, in late Spring and early summer.

3. SHASHI AND RAVI RUIA   $12bn
Later this year, JP Morgan Cazenove are said to be floating the shipping, steel, oil and gas, and telecoms group, Essar Holdings, on the London stock market for over £5bn. With that in mind, Shashi and Ravi Ruia, recently bought a home in Mayfair. As Essar Chairman Shashi Ruia recently joked: “I am not just an MBA, but also an MBB (Marwari by birth).” Many successful Indians in business are either Marwaris, who originate from around Jodphur, or Parsis, a Zoroastrian community distantly descended from Persians. In 2007, the Ruias were listed for the first time as one of India’s ten richest families, with a net worth of $12bn.

5. SAVITRI JINDAL   $12.2bn
Savitri Jindal is the richest woman in India, with a net worth of $12.2bn. A widow with nine children, she became non-executive chair of the Jindal Organisation on her late husband’s death in a helicopter crash in 2005. Om Prakash Jindal (known as O.P), the son of a farmer, started his career making buckets and pipes in an Indian village in the 1950s.

The Jindal Organisation is now a multi-billion dollars business involved in all aspects of steel production, from mining iron ore to manufacturing in 20 factories. It recently acquired iron ore mines in Chile and Bolivia, as well as rights of oil exploration in Peru. In London, Mrs Jindal lives in Kensington. She is joined by her four sons, all them involved in the business, including Naveen Jindal, an ‘irrepressible polo enthusiast’.

=6. KUSHAL PAL (KP) SINGH   $9bn
The call centre capital of the world is Gurgaon, with its earthquake-proof office buildings. That this should be so is due to K.P.Singh, whose DLF Universal Ltd is the largest real estate company on the planet. Born in 1931, Singh studied science, including aeronautical engineering in the UK, before being commissioned as an officer in Indian Army’s famous Deccan Horse and transforming DLF (Delhi Land and Finance) it into the colossus that it is today, building houses, apartments, offices towers, shopping malls, airports, hotels and cinemas across India.

His fortune is estimated at $9bn. A keen golfer, he now leaves his son Rajiv and daughter Pia to run the business, allowing him to spend more time in his Grosvenor Square house.

=6. CYRUS VANDREVALA   $9bn
This visionary private equity investor Cyrus Vandrevala started investing in technology businesses his 20s and now has global investments in a multiple of public and private companies ranging from Telecom, infrastructure, energy, real estate, food and cement. He has made his mark as a man of style in London having lived at Claridge’s for six months before buying a house in Holland Park with his heiress wife Priya Hiranandani-Vandrevala for £20m. He has achieved billionaire status while maintaining a discreet social presence. Look out for him in Annabel’s.

8. ANIL AGARWAL   $6.4bn
Born in 1954, Anil Agarwal has a house in Mayfair. Like other of India’s billionaires, he likes the best and can afford it: “I have to have a Bentley, the best of chauffeurs and butlers,” he says. The son of a small businessman from Bihar, in eastern India, he founded the mining group Vendanta Resources in the 1980s; it is now active on four continents, with offices in London and operations in Zambia, Australia and India.

Criticized by environmentalists including Bianca Jagger, it was nevertheless floated on the London stock exchange in 2003. In 2007, Mr Agarwal’s fortune stood at over $12bn; with the decline in the demand for minerals because of the global recession, it is now nearer $6.4bn. He is developing a ‘world class Vendata University at Orissa in India to ‘nurture generations of global leaders’.

9. SHAPOOR MISTRY   $6bn (family wealth)
Like many of the Bollygarchs, Shapoor Mistry shuns any suggestion of limelight; however, an exception is made when this keen racing man leads home a winning horse that has been bred by him. It is one of the few occasions that he can unwind from his business duties. Shapoor’s London house is in Mayfair: Cyrus also, pursues his many business interests from a London base.

The foundation of the Mistry family’s wealth is an 18.5% stake in Tata Sons, the motor manufacturer, acquired by Shapoor and Cyrus’s father, Pallonji Mistry. Some surprise was caused when the Mistrys recently became Irish citizens: Pallonji’s wife Patsy is said to have been born in Ireland, although from a well-known Parsi business family in India. The family’s net worth is put at $6bn.

10. ANURAG DIKSHIT   $854mn
Online gambling has a mixed reputation, particularly in the United States where, in 2008, Anurag Dikshit caused a sensation by pleading guilty to charges of breaking the laws governing it; this cost him a £185m fine. Not one to revel in the trappings of wealth, he devotes most of his time to a Trust which funds projects to further medicine, education and the community in India, Gibraltar and the UK.

Born in Jharkhand, India, 37 years ago, Mr Dikshit’s first break came in the dotcom boom, when he was working in the US as a software developer. In his mid twenties, Dikshit wrote the new companies betting software.

11. VIJAY MALLYA   $1.6bn
Kingfishers are usually seen in a flash of iridescent colour, and so it is with Vijay Mallya, whose property portfolio includes – as well as residences in California, New York, Monaco and all the main cities in India – a castle in Scotland, a country house in Berkshire and a London house. Catch him when you can.

The boss of Kingfisher Beer and Kingfisher Airlines spends most of his time in one of his four planes, amid a décor of luxurious sofas, granite-topped bars and Impressionist paintings, the wardrobe in his bedroom at the back allowing him to emerge immaculately dressed for whichever of the many roles he is about to play. This astonishingly energetic man likes yachting, racehorses and African game lodges, as well as classic cars.

A former racing driver, Dr Mallya speaks eight languages, is a qualified scuba diver and pilot, loves music and collects art. A member of the upper house of the Indian parliament, he has championed the plight of street sweepers and the need for better drinking water, rather than business and industry. Happy to be known as the King of the Good Times, he exhausts his entourage with his zest for all aspects of life. The money keeps piling up. He is a modern Maharajah whose dynamism personifies the entrepreneurship of the subcontinent.

12. NARESH GOYAL   $1.55bn
As a boy growing up in India, Naresh Goyal, now in his early 60s, had to walk to school every day, because his parents could not afford a bicycle. Now he has triumphed in another area of transportation, as the owner of Jet Airways, India’s largest domestic airline. He established it in 1992, after an aviation career which began as public relations manager of Iraqui Airlines.

A naturally hospitable man, he is said to like London so much that he more or less commutes to India from his town house overlooking Regent’s Park, where his family are based. In his spare time he enjoys watching Bollywood movies, saying, on one occasion, that you don’t have to remember what you saw last time.

13. SIR ANWAR PERVEZ   $1.1bn
Convenience stores are stereotypically associated with businessmen from the subcontinent: beginning with one in Earl’s Court, Sir Anwar Pervez built up the cash-and-carry empire of Bestway, with 50 warehouses across the country. It now employs 4,500 people and is worth £230m.

14. MIKE JATANIA AND BROTHERS   $1bn
Mike Jatania and his three brothers were among the Asians expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin in 1969. Their cosmetics company Lornamead acquires underperforming companies and product lines and revitalizes them; this, together with a property portfolio in London, has created a family fortune of £1bn.

15. SWRAJ PAUL   $760m
Lord Paul, born in 1931, grew up in the Punjab, where his father had a small foundry making steel buckets, tubs, trunks and farm equipment. The family lived frugally, following the Hindu ideal of ‘simple living and high thinking’. He and his brother transformed the modest enterprise at home into an industrial group with interests in steel, engineering, pharmaceuticals, hotels, shipping and tea.

Lord Paul (he became a peer in 1996) moved to Britain in 1966, needing medical care for his daughter Ambika, who had leukemia. Sadly Ambika died two years later, but Paul remained in the UK, dedicating his development of the Caparo Group to her memory. In 1994, he rebuilt the London Children’s Zoo in her name: when under treatment the Zoo had been a favourite outing.

16. FELIX GROVIT   $660m
Felix Grovit is the man behind Chequepoint, the bureaux de change empire, founded in 1974. From London it spread out to other tourist hotspots in 70 countries across the world. Aged 65, he also has interesting in Berkeley Credit and biotechnology. Like others in the world of the Indian super rich, Mr Grovit is generally described as shy and elusive. The industry was astounded when he launched his own website www.felixgrovit.com, although at present there is nothing on it.

17. JASMINDER SINGH   $500m
In 1979 Jasminder Singh is a hotelier, who formed the Edwardian Group with an uncle in 1979, which now has a dozen luxury hotels in the UK and runs Radisson Hotels (as Radisson Edwardian) under franchise. Of Punjabi descent, Mr Singh was born in Dar es Salaam in 1951. He came to the UK, qualifying as an accountant before entering the hotel business in 1975. He insists that his top people have studied at Oxford or Harvard. His holidays are of the busman type, sizing up the competition’s hotels. The rest of the time he lives quietly at Ascot with his wife and four children.

18. VIKRANT BHARGAVA   $350m
Vikrant Bhargava was the former marketing director of PartyGaming, having been a classmate of Anurag Dikshit (see above) when studying electrical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi. From Delhi he obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management. At the gaming group he helped attract attention to the site by staging online poker tournament with a $1 million prize. He said that 70,000 people were playping Party Poker simultaneously at peak hours. However, Bhargava left PartyGaming in 2006 to devote himself to media and real estate businesses, as well as philanthropy.

19. VIJAY AND BIKHU PATEL   ?$300m
Vijay and Bikhu Patel, who founded Waymade Healthcare, came, like many British Asians, via Kenya: from a poor background in the western highlands, they arrived in Britain with just £5 in the early 1970s. From a single chemist’s shop, they have built a business turning over £300m each year. They say that the desire to escape poverty gave a keen edge appetite for business.

20. TOM SINGH   $230m
Tom Singh, graduate of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, founded the fashion chain New Look in Weymouth 1969, borrowing £5000 with his wife Kuljit to open the first shop. Mr Singh still lives in Weymouth, even though the company now has over 1000 stores in different countries, including 543 in the UK.

Clive Aslet is editor-at-large of Country Life and a contributing editor to Spear’s

http://www.spearswms.com/family-business/18842/britains-bollygarchs.thtml

Perfect Knowledge is a private company that offers a bespoke service to VIP’s, senior executives and ultra high net worth individuals (UHNWI). We provide a discreet service that manages private and personal affairs on behalf of our clients. Our focus is to ensure total privacy for the individual or organisation at all times. Our services are aimed at private banks, offshore trusts, celebrities, royal family management, private families and discerning individuals where money is no object and discretion is paramount.

www.perfect-knowledge.com

A property tycoon is set to have six London mansions seized by Westminster council in a bid to stop them falling victim to squatters. Simon Halabi has become a victim of the credit crunch and was last week reported to have lost control of seven office blocks in the capital after defaulting on more than $1 billion (£620 million) of loans.

Now Westminster council is threatening to take ownership of six of his central London homes, some valued at up to £20 million, that have lain empty for up to eight years. This is part of a drive by the council to use compulsory purchase powers to gain control of 20 luxury properties that have lain uninhabited for a decade or more to protect them from a band of rampant squatters.

Mr Halabi, a Syrian-born tycoon who formerly invested in the Shard of Glass tower planned for London Bridge, lost an estimated £120 million when the Esporta sports clubs went into administration. He owns 68 Mount Street and 14 Park Street, both valued at £20 million and empty for eight years, as well as four other central London properties worth between £6 and £12 million. Two years ago Mr Halabi was the 14th richest person in Britain, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. But he does not feature on the 2009 list.

Most of the other properties on the council’s hit list are owned by offshore companies and a few by companies and private owners in the UK. It is prepared to acquire them over the next six months unless their owners begin restoration work. Paul Palmer, Westminster’s empty homes officer, said: “We have been trying to encourage the owners of these lovely buildings to face up to their responsibilities and bring them back into use. “As we have met with a less than positive response, we are now considering using our powers of compulsory purchase in the near future. “Ideally we want the owners to take the initiative to refurbish and occupy these properties, but if they are not prepared to – then the City council will step in.”

Mr Halabi’s property empire includes the former Naval & Military Club in Piccadilly – known as the “In and Out” club – has been wound up by HM Revenue & Customs and is now managed by receivers. The council is already in talks with Mr Halabi’s receivers, who have recently installed security cameras on some of the empty properties. The first at risk of being taken into council ownership include two in Park Lane, four in Upper Grosvenor Street, three in Park Street, three in Queen Street, three in Charles Street and one each in Mount Street and Waverton Street.

The problem has become more pressing after bands of squatters began moving from one empty top-end house to another, highlighting the number of luxury homes standing empty. Earlier this week, squatters moved into a three-storey house on the same road in Belgravia as Baroness Thatcher’s home. The group had previously been evicted from an 80-room former Sudanese Embassy in Knightsbridge and a £4.5million house near Harrods.

Another squat group, known as the Oubliette, took over the former Mexican embassy in Mayfair and the neighbouring former Tanzanian High Commission this month. By standing empty, the properties have lost their owners a total of £1 billion in unpaid rent. They have also slashed £64 million from the value of neighbouring property. Mr Palmer said: “We have no intention of hanging on to these buildings.

“As soon as we acquire them we will sell them on. That makes us effectively estate agents, but we will insist that any buyers are required by contract to do them up within a limited period of time, so that this situation will not be repeated.” Westminster has calculated that each of the empty buildings could be converted into up to 12 much-needed flats

Source: Evening Standard

www.perfect-knowledge.com

The President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, attended here on Monday a luncheon held at the Dubai World Trade Centre by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain to celebrate the wedding of his son, Shaikh Nasir bin Hamad Al Khalifa to the daughter of the Dubai Ruler.

Shaikh Khalifa greeted Shaikh Mohammed and King Hamad on the happy 
occasion. 
   The President also greeted the bridegroom and wished him a happy and blessed marriage.

Shaikh Mohammed and King Hamad receive greetings from other Shaikhs, statesmen, ministers and distinguished guests from the UAE and Bahrain. Present at the ceremony and the luncheon were Their Highnesses and Members of the Supreme Council Shaikh Hamad bin Mohammed Al Sharqi of Fujairah, Shaikh Saud bin Rashid Al Mualla of Umm Al Quwain,  Shaikh Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi of Ajman, Shaikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Dubai Crown Prince Shaikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Deputy Ruler and UAE Finance Minister Shaikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Deputy Ruler Shaikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Sharjah Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler Shaikh Sultan bin Mohammed bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Ras Al Khaimah Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler Shaikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Umm Al Quwain Crown Prince Shaikh Rashid bin Saud bin 
Rashid Al Mualla and Bahraini Prime Minister, Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman 
Al Khalifa.

Others attending were Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Lt- General Shaikh Saif bin Zayed Al 
Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Affairs Minister Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, other shaikhs from the Al Maktoum and Al Khalifa royal families, Speaker of  the Federal National Council Abdul Aziz Abdullah Al Ghurair, Abu Dhabi 
Ruler’s Representative in the Eastern Region Shaikh Tahnoun bin Mohammed Al Nahyan, ministers and senior officials.

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Laurence Graff pays £2.5 million a record price for gemstone at auction http://bit.ly/QT8hR

One less tax haven to stash those billions in Liechtenstein http://bit.ly/10UByi

A License Plate “1D” fetches £352,411 record price at auction  http://bit.ly/3ly3og

The Queen of England has fallen to 12th place on Forbes’ list of the world’s richest royals http://bit.ly/cMr26

Billionaire Sheikh pays £250,000 for Household Cavalry to fly to Abu Dhabi http://bit.ly/4uy89

The World’s Five Longest Super Yachts http://bit.ly/tMAOb

Ultimate luxury service links for the ultra rich http://bit.ly/yL9dE

One £200 million super-yacht with three Monet paintings onboard http://bit.ly/w5Cyw

Threat to offshore accounts as taxman does deal with Liechtenstein http://bit.ly/13zohV

Ten facts on tiny principality of Liechtenstein http://bit.ly/yDDhZ

Perfect Knowledge Ltd is a private company offering a bespoke service to the super rich, and VIPs http://bit.ly/QT4et

Harrods by Appointment – Services only for the Super Rich http://bit.ly/mblGg

Argentina win the Cartier Day at Guards Polo Club for the Coronation Cup http://bit.ly/x0LC3

Sheikh Who Backed Barclays Gets Another Shot With Qatar’s Money http://bit.ly/4GqAbZ

Launch of our new web site www.perfectknowledgepr.com http://bit.ly/W1ZM4

The worlds wealthiest royals  http://bit.ly/96UmI

Even as police investigate £80m P/onzi scheme, some ‘victims’ can’t believe it http://bit.ly/BtmsC

Russian billionaires oligarchs favourite fixer and English lawyer met his horrifying death http://bit.ly/oj9eA

Thieves steal £13m of jewels from cartier in Cannes http://bit.ly/pjuT1

Millionaire Fair Moscow 2009 http://bit.ly/XfALM

Abramovich Launches his new Yacht http://bit.ly/1LBkkL

Prefect Knowledge PR http://bit.ly/IVveW

Saudi princess runs up £15 million shopping bill around the world http://bit.ly/OqJem

Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai opens facebook account http://bit.ly/3Pi3WY

Press Release: Launch of new Public Relation Company – Perfect Knowledge PR http://bit.ly/hLyLJ

Filthy rich: the 10 highest paid hedge fund managers of 2008 http://bit.ly/10R61s

Perfect Knowledge Ltd is a private company offering a bespoke service to the super rich, VIPs, and Middle East Royality http://bit.ly/QT4et

The 10 richest models in the world http://bit.ly/3C9hu

How do you address the members of the House of Lords http://bit.ly/1fcqYI

The 5 most expensive hotel rooms in the world http://bit.ly/16IDhD

Oxford the unlikely rise of the private fixer in the biggest ever arms deal. Billionaire Wafic Said straddles worlds of Saudi royals and Westminster http://bit.ly/WZDp8

A fixer to the super-rich has just days to prove his claim that he has no money left http://bit.ly/tsVUH

Financier and Fixer Amanda Staveley missed a pay deal that would of made Millions. The payout would have dwarfed the £40m she earned brokering a deal for Abu Dhabi billionaire Sheik Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan to take a £3.5bn stake in Barclays last year http://bit.ly/AYDho

The fixer from Doncaster who became the toast of Abu Dhabi http://bit.ly/4vRzQ4

Chelsea property the richest borough where the average house cost over a million pounds http://bit.ly/diUvI

Tops Good University Guide http://bit.ly/zXlUf

10 Richest British Footballers http://bit.ly/YRxcv

The Rich List 2009 http://bit.ly/1gbirg

Saudi Royals £50 Million Super Home in Belgravia http://bit.ly/bSGFr

Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan book an estimated £1.46bn ($2.42bn) profit on his £2bn investment in convertible notes in Barclays http://bit.ly/GqjvB

Rich Gulf individuals have long been discreet buyers of London real estate, and even now that their local markets are booming, many leading sheikhs remain big players in the British capital’s red hot market http://bit.ly/eGtS6

The Bishops Avenue – London’s Billionaire Row http://bit.ly/4dqPgs

London’s most secretive service which caters for the multimillionaires. Welcome to the world of the Private Fixer http://bit.ly/45b1et

Rich Lloyds bank customers ‘encouraged to avoid UK tax by channelling their wealth through China http://bit.ly/XlE5x

BAE could be fined ‘tens of millions’ over bribes claims http://bit.ly/tcaB9

Private Fixer Scot Young had amassed a £400m fortune by 2006 yet now claims he is penniless as his wife. http://bit.ly/zbZ5N

Luxury service links http://bit.ly/2G0k0W

Prefect Knowledge PR http://bit.ly/IVveW

An employee at the Jersey branch of the bank was secretly filmed as part of a Panorama investigation. British tax officials are investigating allegations that wealthy clients of Lloyds Banking Group are being encouraged to avoid UK taxes by channelling money through China. The BBC said that an employee at the Jersey branch of the bank was secretly filmed – as part of a Panorama investigation – giving the advice to a man posing as a client with £4million to invest. Lloyds, which received a £17billion government bailout last year, denied any wrongdoing and said it would not comment on the actions of an individual employee.

Dave Hartnett, permanent secretary at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), told the BBC that the advice was ‘incredibly irresponsible’. HMRC is said to be investigating the incident after the BBC handed over its footage. An HMRC spokeswoman said: ‘Dave Hartnett has agreed to look at the evidence the BBC has gathered.’ The Panorama investigation into off-shore banking also looked into Northern Rock, which was bailed out with £27billion of taxpayers’ money at the start of the banking crisis in 2008. A banker from Northern Rock in Guernsey told Panorama’s undercover customer that he could avoid the EU tax rules by opening an account in the name of a non-trading company.

The banker said the customer should inform the Inland Revenue, but the BBC claimed the bank itself keeps the details secret from the taxman. Northern Rock denied its subsidiary is behaving inappropriately and said it informs and reminds all account holders that they are responsible for declaring the interest earned from their savings to their relevant tax authority.

Source: Dailymail

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Aerospace and defence giant BAE Systems is facing fines running into tens of millions of pounds after an inquiry by the Serious Fraud Office into allegations of bribery during arms and equipment sales. The SFO has been conducting a long-running corruption probe into the sale of aircraft and other equipment to South Africa, the Czech Republic and Tanzania. The SFO has now approached BAE with a deal under which the company will pay a fine rather than face a complex criminal trial. Hawk aircraft similar to this one are among the equipment at the centre of the corruption allegations facing BAE. It is understood that the company, which has until the end of the month to negotiate the deal, could face fines potentially running to tens of millions because the penalty will relate to the £2.5billion plus contracts rather than the scale of the alleged bribes. It could represent the biggest payout of its kind in British financial history.

The German firm Siemens recently agreed about £500million in fines to settle similar bribery allegations in America involving a £1billion slush fund. The deal is being offered under a US-style plea-bargaining system unveiled by the SFO last year, in which individuals and companies receive more lenient sentences if they admit wrongdoing. The system was brought in after criticisms of the SFO for its low conviction rate and its bruising battle over the BAE Systems bribery allegations. Its BAE inquiry started more than four years ago, and it has already spent millions on lawyers and other specialists on top of its own costs. Court documents lodged in South Africa contain claims suggesting that ‘commissions’ totalling £115million were paid to agents who helped BAE clinch a $1.6billion arms deal involving a 1999 contract for Hawk and Gripen aircraft. The SFO has also been examining alleged corruption relating to a Tanzanian air traffic control deal, thought to have been worth £28million, and in an abortive 2001 sale of fighter aircraft to the Czech Republic worth more than £1billion.

If the deal between BAE and the SFO goes ahead, it would be an extraordinary turnaround for the agency, which in 2006 dropped its probe into allegations that BAE paid bribes to Saudi Arabian government officials to secure lucrative arms contracts.The then Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, had claimed that any breakdown of diplomatic relations with the Saudis could damage national security. But bribery inquiries relating to BAE sales to other countries remained under investigation. Some of these – thought to include Romania, Qatar and Chile – have been dropped. But sources say that intense negotiations are under way between the SFO and BAE regarding the three remaining deals. The Serious Fraud Office declined to comment. BAE Systems said: ‘The interests of the company as well as all of its stakeholders, including the general public, are best served by allowing the ongoing investigations to run their course.

Michelle Young searches inside her purse for change to pay for groceries. These days she is, in many ways, just like any other mother, watching every penny as she struggles to make ends meet. All that separates 45-year-old Michelle from the others in the supermarket queue is her expensive designer clothes, the only residual reminder of her recent past. Scot Young with his daughters Living the high life: Scot Young with his daughters Sasha and Scarlet at their Wentworth Park home in 2002. For it wasn’t always like this. Only three years ago, married to tycoon Scot Young – who counts Topshop billionaire Sir Philip Green and Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky among his close friends – she lived in unimaginable luxury. The couple owned some of the finest homes in England, fabulous cars and a yacht in Monaco.

They travelled by private jet and were waited on by a battalion of servants. As for her weekly shopping, it was delivered to her Palladian mansion, set in 200 acres, courtesy of Harrods. There was really no limit to what I could spend. I could have anything I wanted,’ she said. ‘I never had fewer than three luxury cars, including a Hummer just to take my dogs to the vet.’ Once, her husband bought her a Range Rover filled with tens of thousands of pounds worth of couture dresses by designer Maria Grachvogel. For her 40th birthday, he lavished her with £1 million worth of Graff diamond jewellery. But in 2006 her life fell apart with vertiginous speed. As her marriage disintegrated, so too – according to her husband, at least – did his vast fortune. In fact, he claims it simply vanished completely. Michelle, however, remains sceptical. The couple, who have two daughters, Scarlet, 16, and Sasha, 14, are now engaged in one of the most expensive divorce battles of recent times. Mr Young is due back at the High Court, where he faces jail unless he fully answers a questionnaire into his financial circumstances. At a previous hearing, his wife’s lawyers claimed to have evidence that he was still worth £400million in 2006. Michelle Young ‘I am not going to roll over’: Michelle Young at her London home last week

For three years he has failed to explain adequately how he came to lose his fortune so quickly. No receipts, deeds or papers have yet been forthcoming. In 2007 he claimed that not only had every last penny vanished but that he was being pursued by creditors to the tune of £27million. So dire are the financial straits in which he claims to find himself that he has applied for Legal Aid. Meanwhile, his current whereabouts are unknown, though he frequently rings his daughters, who live with their mother in a rented London townhouse – paid for by his friends, says her husband. They face eviction later this month because the rent payments suddenly stopped. It goes without saying that Michelle has serious doubts about her husband’s predicament, scepticism fuelled by phone calls he has made to their daughters. ‘Last week he told Scarlet he would buy her a Rolls-Royce Phantom for her 17th birthday,’ said Michelle. ‘He said he was on the verge of a deal involving Bill Clinton that would make him one of the richest men in the world. ‘He also said he wanted Scarlet to be friends with Philip Green’s daughter Chloe. He told her that Philip would take the girls around Topshop and let Scarlet have anything she wanted. Thankfully, she doesn’t want to take up the offer.’   The extraordinary story of her life with the secretive Mr Young, and how it felt to have it all – then lose it. And, shedding new light on his business deals, she revealed for the first time the reason offered by her husband for his apparently spectacular crash. ‘He said he’d ploughed everything he had into a doomed housing and shopping development in Russia called Project Moscow,’ said Michelle, who now lives on the money she made from selling her Graff jewellery. She realises that many will savour the details of her descent with schadenfreude, particularly in these straitened times. But she isn’t, she insists, seeking sympathy. ‘I just want the marriage to come to an end and for my daughters and me to be properly looked after.’

Far from being the trophy wife of a wealthy man, Michelle played an important role in her husband’s success. ‘We started off together and we made it together,’ she said.They met 22 years ago, and if her background as the daughter of a successful Essex businessman was comfortable, his was less so – a fact, she says, that drove him to do well. ‘He was originally from Dundee and when we met he said he was in the property business,’ said Michelle. ‘But he didn’t explain too much about it. He was always very secretive, even then.’ Their first year together was spent living in Upminster with her parents, who adored the charismatic Mr Young, now 47, and treated him as a son. ‘My father helped him in business, introducing him to contacts,’ said Michelle, who at the time worked as a fashion buyer. ‘It was through a contact of my father that Scot first met Philip Green.’ Michelle gave up her career when she became pregnant with Scarlet in 1992. She gave birth to Sasha two years later and married Mr Young in 1995 at Chelsea Register Office.

By this time, with his property developing business expanding rapidly, they were living in Theydon Bois in Essex in a Tudor-style house set in a few acres, complete with swimming pool and tennis court. Michelle would put her design skills to use when they bought houses to renovate, and would often find the properties. ‘I wasn’t just a housewife,’ she said. ‘It is fair to say that I was key to his early success.’ But soon after they married, Mr Young’s ‘darker side’ began to emerge, according to his wife. She claimed he could be volatile and prone to ‘bouts of aggression which seemed to come from nowhere. He could get very angry for no reason and start throwing things about’. By the mid-Nineties, Mr Young had become close to Sir Philip Green and Sir Tom Hunter, the property and sports goods tycoon. ‘They made hundreds of millions from a telecoms venture,’ said Michelle. ‘But I didn’t have much of an idea about what exactly they were doing.’ By this stage the family had moved into £21 million Wood Perry House on a 200-acre estate in Oxfordshire. ‘I was busy running that and looking after the girls,’ said Michelle. ‘Although Scot saw Philip and Tom all the time, I only met them a few times socially. When I did meet them, it was just chit-chat. People like Tom Hunter, Philip Green and my husband simply don’t discuss business with their wives.’ While Sir Philip relished the spotlight, Mr Young, according to his wife, preferred to operate under the radar. ‘He wasn’t one for throwing glitzy parties, but he was extravagant and generous,’ said Michelle.

‘He loved Dolce & Gabbana clothes and every time their new collection came out he would buy it all, spending around a £1million a year on clothes for himself. Every time he pulled off a deal he bought a fabulously expensive watch – he must have had more than 200. He had countless luxury cars, sometimes buying a new one every six weeks. The antiques with which I filled our house were worth £4million, and Scot was also generous with the girls. They had Arabian horses to ride around the estate and small battery-powered Jeeps. There were frequent fantastic holidays in Capri and New York and Barbados by Concorde.’ Sometimes the family would dine at Raymond Blanc’s celebrated Oxfordshire restaurant, Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons, twice a week. It was an amazing life. But as we grew richer, so Scot became more volatile,’ said Michelle. ‘There were frequent rows and he humiliated me a lot. He would play the macho man and swear at me in front of workmen, for example, ordering me about and telling me to do this and do that. The family moved out of Wood Perry House in 2001, buying an equally impressive mansion on the Wentworth Park Estate in Egham, Surrey. They were there for just a few months before deciding to return to Oxfordshire because Sasha and Scarlet missed their schools. Mr Young sold the house to billionaire Russian dissident Boris Berezovsky.

‘It was through this sale that the two of them became very close,’ said Michelle. ‘Again, I don’t know what business they did together, but one of our mutual friends told me recently that whenever he sees Scot these days he is always with Boris. I met Boris on a few occasions. He took us to the Manoir to thank us for the house. Over dinner he gave me a Faberge brooch and Scot Faberge cufflinks. I also met him at a charity function at Windsor Castle but I never really got to know him. He was like the others in Scot’s inner circle. It amuses me when I read how Scot was this fixer who would find cars and houses for oligarchs. If anything, he was Boris’s equal. And he was far too grand simply to find cars for his rich friends. But he did give them away, and would often say thank you for a favour, for example, by buying his pals a Ferrari or a Bentley. By 2005, the marriage had grown increasingly unhappy, with one episode in particular almost bringing it to the point of collapse. Michelle recalled: ‘I was at home with the girls when robbers wearing balaclavas and carrying weapons came to the house and stole three of Scot’s cars – a Mercedes, a Porsche Turbo and a Porsche Cayenne. We didn’t see it happen, although we later saw them on the CCTV. I called the police, who were there when Scot came home very aggressive and screaming at me, “My cars, my cars. Why didn’t you f****** stop them?” The policeman told him he should be thankful that we hadn’t been hurt. I found the whole thing very upsetting.’

The family decided to make a ‘fresh start’ in Miami, a place they had visited often. They bought a £3.5million beachfront home as ‘a base’ while they searched for somewhere more substantial. But, according to Michelle, within weeks of arriving Mr Young left for Britain, saying he was ‘negotiating a very big Russian deal, a £2billion shopping and retail development that he called Project Moscow’. He returned to Miami for two days in January 2006 for his birthday, but in all was away for three months. What was strange was how moved he was by the fuss we made of him on his birthday,’ she said. ‘He had to leave the room on one occasion because he was crying. Also, a month earlier at Christmas, he made an incredible fuss of us. Even by his standards he was generous. He gave me a Damien Hirst sketch he’d bought at auction – outbidding Hugh Grant – and a diamond necklace. The girls got Cartier watches and Louis Vuitton luggage. Three months later, Michelle received a call from a solicitor saying her husband had lost all his money. ‘I couldn’t take it in, I couldn’t believe it. He came back a week later saying he’d lost it all on Project Moscow,’ she said. ‘From then on things spiralled out of control. Everything, including the £4million of antiques, were repossessed.

The money had gone from all the accounts and I had nothing. Scot was getting very agitated and it seemed he spent the whole time in the garden on his mobile phone. I simply didn’t believe him about Project Moscow. It was during this period that we found evidence of his wealth on a laptop. The girls wanted me to leave him and on November 5, 2006, we did just that, flying back to London with what money we had and a suitcase of clothes. We stayed at a hotel for two months and then rented a house by Regent’s Park, where we are now. It is bewildering for the girls. He asked one of them last week to come to live with him in his new luxury apartment, which doesn’t exactly chime with the idea that he has lost everything. In truth, we simply don’t know how he has been living for the past three years.’

Michelle has now amassed a formidable team of experts, managed by consultants Temple Regulatory Service Limited, and is close to striking a third party litigation funding deal. A spokesman for Temple said: ‘This is a complex case but we are confident of achieving a resolution soon. Michelle added: ‘I want Scot to know that I am not going to roll over. I mean business. A friend of Mr Young said last night that the tycoon was ‘very positive about reaching an out-of-court settlement with Michelle. He intends to provide for his wife and children and is furious he has been portrayed as a bad husband and father. Asked if Mr Young was not therefore penniless, the friend said: ‘No comment. He is a private man and his financial affairs will forever remain his business. The friend confirmed that Mr Young had amassed his fortune through ‘property transactions, high-tech investments and telecom investments’, and said that he had been living in America for the past three years but was now back in London.

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Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich’s new $355 million, 555-ft. Eclipse, designed to be the world’s biggest, will have a military-grade missile defense system to keep the oligarch safe. My colleague Deidre Woollard first reported on initial plans for the Eclipse back in January. Now further details are emerging about the megayacht (rendering above), which when completed next summer will be 25 ft. longer than Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid’s 530-ft. Platinum, currently ranked as the biggest yacht in the world. Secrecy surrounds the Eclipse, but sources tell the London Times that an antiballistic missile defense system is being installed by AST, a company with close ties to both the Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg, where the yacht is being built, and the German defense ministry.

The Eclipse is also being equipped with armor plating surrounding the bridge and Abramovich’s master suite, as well as bullet-proof windows. There’s also a submarine that can be launched underwater and dive to a depth of 160 ft. that doubles as an escape pod, as well as two helicopter pads. Civilian ships are not allowed to carry weapons and so have to limit themselves to defense systems, but Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz gets around this by having his 482-ft. yacht registered as a Royal Saudi Navy vessel, said to be equipped with French-made Exocet missiles. Pirate attacks on luxury craft are on the rise of late. Abramovich owns three other megayachts already: the 377 ft. Pelorus, the 282 ft. Ecstasea and the 160 ft. Sussurro.

French luxury products group LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton said Monday it has signed an exclusive agreement with Dutch investment company Egeria to acquire Royal van Lent, the Dutch designer and builder of luxury custom mega-yachts sold under the Feadship brand. The talks with owner Egeria, a Dutch investment firm, are based on an acquisition price worth approximately 11 times net profit. The estimated price equates to a transaction value of less than 500 million euros, a source familiar with the talks said. This acquisition will enable LVMH to enlarge its scope of activities and to expand its presence in products and services at the top of the luxury market.

Royal van Lent’s yachts target an luxury yachts and are built to the highest quality standards using specific know-how. Feadship’s attributes of creativity, craftsmanship, innovation, quality and exclusive positioning are shared by all the luxury businesses operated by LVMH. Founded 160 years ago, Royal van Lent enjoys a leading market position. It designs and builds custom mega-yachts under the Feadship brand, one of the most exclusive and prestigious brands in the world for motor-yachts measuring over 50 meters. The custom-built ultra-luxury mega-yacht sector offers strong global growth prospects. By targeting exclusively ultra-high net worth individuals, Royal van Lent offers an outstanding growth opportunity that is resistant to economic cycles. Since 2000, the worldwide order book for custom-built luxury yachts measuring over 50 meters has grown by more than 20% per annum.

A townhouse in Knightsbridge has been sold at the biggest price reduction ever seen on a piece of luxury real estate in the city of London. According to the Daily Mail, the home was sold after being reduced by £22 million. The original asking price was a jaw-dropping £40 million – final sale price £18 million. The seller was apparently holding out for a Russian Oligarch, and the entire house is fitted out as a magazine shot, which appeals to Russian buyers I understand.

Things are not going well for the Oligarchs currently, with Russia’s luxury goods market in tatters – and despite headlines throughout the British press claiming that foreigners are bailing out the British luxury property market – Russian buyers are pretty thin on the ground at the moment. This is certainly the biggest price drop I have ever heard of in London and some agents are calling it a “bargain.” I reserve judgment on that, but it certainly will give other sellers pause for thought. The buyer was – unsurprisingly a banker. Well, a bond trader actually who was in the news some time ago for having dated Heather Mills, Paul McCartney’s now ex-wife.