Nick Candy, the treasurer of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, has racked up more than £100mn of financial losses backing a number of failed ventures including an augmented reality start-up and a high fashion house.
The property developer behind luxury Knightsbridge apartment block One Hyde Park — which has been a magnet for oligarchs, pop stars and other super-rich buyers — took the senior post in Farage’s party last year with the promise to transform its finances and woo significant donors.
Candy has spearheaded Reform fundraising dinners that attracted former Conservative donors. He was also present at a December meeting at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort between Farage and Elon Musk when the Tesla chief was considering making a large contribution to the party, which made big gains in England’s local elections this month.
Though often described as a billionaire, Candy’s finances are obscured by a web of offshore companies in jurisdictions such as Luxembourg and Guernsey, leading some bankers to question the viability of his attempted bids for multibillion pound companies.
Accounts for Candy’s Luxembourg-based investment portfolio, Candy Ventures, show his investment company recorded losses totalling €120mn (£101mn) from its inception in 2014 up until December 2023, the last date for which figures are available, according to analysis by the Financial Times.
Candy Ventures had a gross book value of €167mn at the end of 2023, with a net value of just €69mn, according to its financial statements. However, a person familiar with Candy Venture’s investments said that as of March it had investments in 17 companies with a total “mark-to-market” value of around £350mn.
Candy has a 90 per cent stake in the investment firm, while director Steven Smith owns the remaining 10 per cent. It was founded in 2014 to “back visionary founders with global ambitions” and use its “exceptional network to powerfully accelerate businesses and ideas”, according to the company’s website.
The business recorded a €3mn profit in 2021, but has lost money every other year of operation, accounts show. It incurred its largest annual loss of €67mn in 2018, with another €30mn in 2020, after backing a number of failed start-ups including augmented reality company Blippar.
Blippar was founded in 2011, but collapsed seven years later over a funding dispute. In 2017, the FT revealed that a number of claims founder Ambarish Mitra made about his rags-to-riches back-story had been fabricated or exaggerated.
In 2017, Candy Ventures had an investment worth €22mn in Blippar, and was also owed almost €2mn in outstanding loans by the company, according to filings.
After its collapse, Candy Ventures bought the business’s assets out of administration and accounts show it holds a 49 per cent stake in a company called “Blippar 2.0”.
It is not the only time Candy Ventures has bought a failed business out of administration. In 2016, music social media platform Crowdmix, which counted DJ Pete Tong as a backer, collapsed owing £7.8mn to Candy Ventures.
Another Candy business, owned by Candy Ventures, bought the company for £6.75mn, made up of £650,000 in cash and just over £6mn in debt forgiveness.
In 2020 Candy’s company also wrote off a €23mn loan that it was owed by high fashion house Ralph & Russo. A year later the brand — which enjoyed a string of endorsements from celebrities including Beyoncé and Angelina Jolie and also received investment from controversial financier Lars Windhorst — fell into administration.
Although Candy Ventures has a record of backing smaller technology start-ups, Candy has drawn scrutiny after his Luxembourg investment vehicle announced it was considering bids for larger assets such as THG, formerly The Hut Group, and property company Capital & Counties.
Both target companies had market values of roughly £2bn at the time, while Candy Ventures’ accounts show that it had assets worth less than €60mn. Neither bid materialised.
In 2022, Candy stated that he had made an offer alongside other buyers to purchase Chelsea Football Club from Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, who was under sanctions. A few months later US financier Todd Boehly agreed to buy the Premier League side for £4.25bn.
Candy Ventures also backed Robert Bonnier’s company Aaqua, a social media start-up, in 2021. Aaqua went bankrupt the following year. Candy is still pursuing Aaqua and Bonnier through London’s courts.
Candy has other registered companies in the UK, which have relatively little financial activity, while his Guernsey-based entity does not post a breakdown of profit and loss.
In a 2017 judgment relating to a case brought against Candy by a former business partner, Lord Justice Christopher Nugee, said Candy was “admittedly very wealthy but the source of this wealth is unclear”.
The judge pointed to gifts of money and property he had received from his older brother Christian as a possible substantial source.
One such gift disclosed in the court case is Nick Candy’s own apartment in One Hyde Park, which is on the market with an asking price of £175mn.
The apartment has an outstanding mortgage owed to the Bank of Singapore, according to filings, which accounts for another Candy company suggest originally stood at more than £80mn.
Candy declined to comment. A person familiar with his investments said: “Public filings only show a partial picture, as they capture realised losses but not the upside of active or unrealised investments.”
“Like any traditional venture portfolio, Candy Ventures has experienced a range of outcomes. Its success stories — which may ultimately deliver strong returns — simply aren’t reflected until they are monetised,” the person added.
They also cautioned against “drawing conclusions” from the accounts without this “broader context”.
Additional reporting by Owen Walker
