The couple who built an outdoor theater on their Suffolk farm estate were catapulted to the top of Britain’s Rich List after they made £2bn off the sale of their financial information business.
Mark and Lindy o’Hare who own a Grade II listed farmhouse and a 350-seat theater have signed a deal with fund giant BlackRock to sell their data company Preqin for £2.5bn.
The O’Hares own 80 percent of the company through Valhalla Ventures. This will result in a large payout once the deal is completed.
The couple are now richer than BlackRock CEO Larry Fink who founded the company 36 years ago, and is currently worth £1.3bn.
Preqin provides financial data to City clients and investment banks on alternative assets, such as infrastructure and private equity.
The company was founded in London in 2002. Cambridge-educated, Mr O’Hare led the group in his role as chief executive until 2022. Mrs O’Hare was employed by the company until 2008.
The couple has built Thorington Theatre in a cleared forest on the site where a bomb crater from the Second World War once stood.
The couple bought their farm in 2006 to grow organic walnuts and chestnuts. However, they decided to build a theater using the timber on their property.
Last year, Mrs O’Hare said to Country Life magazine: “I thought I’d be a farmer. Then, at 60 years old, I’m suddenly managing a theatre.”
It sounded crazy, but I asked my husband ‘Why not do it?’ and he said ‘Yes, with our own wood.’
Preqin was the latest acquisition by serial entrepreneur, Mr O’Hare. After working for Boston Consulting Group, he co-founded a consultancy called Goodall Alexander O’Hare & Co in the 1980s.
He founded the shareholder information service Citywatch in 1993 and sold it to Reuters five years later.
Valhalla Ventures owns stakes both in Avvoka, a document automation tool, and Net Zero Insights which provides ESG information.
BlackRock has bought Valhalla Ventures for 100pc cash. This gives Valhalla Ventures a substantial amount of money to invest and do philanthropy.
After the closing of the deal, Mr O’Hare is expected to join BlackRock in a vice-chairman role.
Some of Preqin’s 300 employees will share the remaining £500m. Several are expected to become millionaires over night.
BlackRock will gain access to private market data that is more difficult to get than data available on the stock exchange.
Martin Small, BlackRock’s Chief Financial Officer, said that it would enable the business to push “democratisation” of alternative investments for retail investors.
The fund manager hopes to use private markets data to create indices that are similar to FTSE 100. This could open up a whole new world of investment opportunities.
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