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Nathaniel Rothschild, 5th Baron Rothschild
British-born Canadian financier (born 1971) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Nathaniel Philip Victor James Rothschild, 5th Baron Rothschild (born 12 July 1971), known as Nathaniel Philip Rothschild or Nat Rothschild, is a British-born Canadian[9] financier, who is a birth member of the Rothschild family's banking family of England. He has settled in Switzerland and is also a naturalised Montenegrin citizen.
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Lord Rothschild became the 5th Baron Rothschild on the death of his father, on 26 February 2024.[10][11] The heir presumptive is Lord Rothschild's first cousin, James Rothschild (born 1985),[12][13] the only son of his half-uncle, Amschel Rothschild (1955–1996), who has been married to Nicky Hilton, a member of the prominent Hilton family, since 10 July 2015.[14] The heir presumptive's heir apparent is his only son, Chasen[15] Rothschild (born 2022).[16][17]
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Early life
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Lord Rothschild was born Nathaniel Philip Victor James Rothschild in Paddington, Greater London, England on 12 July 1971,[18] as the youngest child and only son[19] to Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild (1936–2024),[20] a birth member of the Rothschild family's banking family of England,[21] and his wife, Serena Rothschild, Baroness Rothschild (née Dunn; 1934–2019).[22][23] He has three sisters; The Hon. Dame Hannah Rothschild (formerly[24] Brookfield;[25] born 1962),[26][27] The Hon. Beth Matilda Rothschild (formerly Tomassini; born 1964) and The Hon. Emily Magda "Emmy" Freeman-Attwood[28] (née Rothschild; born 1967).[29][30]
Family
Lord Rothschild's mother came from a Christian background, while his father was Jewish (Lord Rothschild's paternal grandfather, Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild (1910–1990), was born into a Jewish family, while Lord Rothschild's paternal grandmother, Barbara Judith Rothschild (née Hutchinson; 1911–1989), had converted to Judaism upon marriage).[31] His paternal half-aunt is the historian The Hon. Emma Rothschild Sen (born 1948).[32] His paternal half-uncle was the businessman The Hon. Amschel Rothschild (1955–1996).[33][34][35] His maternal grandparents were Lady Mary Sybil St. Clair-Erskine (1912–1993), daughter of James St Clair-Erskine, 5th Earl of Rosslyn (1869–1939) and Vera Mary St Clair-Erskine, Countess of Rosslyn (1887–1975), and Sir Philip Gordon Dunn, 2nd Baronet (1905–1976), the only son of the Canadian financier and tycoon Sir James Hamet Dunn, 1st Baronet (1874–1956). His maternal aunt is the writer Nell Dunn (born 1936).[36]
Education
Lord Rothschild attended Colet Court[37] (in the same year as the former Chancellor of the Exchequer,[38] George Osborne),[39] Eton College[40] and Wadham College, Oxford, where he studied history, earning an upper second.[41] He was a member of the Bullingdon Club[42][43] as an undergraduate, at the same time as Osborne.[44] A photograph of the club taken in 1992 depicted him, Osborne, David Cameron's cousin Harry Mount, and the founder of Ocado, Jason Gissing.[45]
Lord Rothschild completed a MSc degree in Addiction Studies[46] at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, in 2013.[47] He was elected as a foundation fellow of Wadham College, Oxford, in 2018.[48]
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Career
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Lord Rothschild joined the fund manager Lazard after graduating,[49] and then went to work at Gleacher & Co., a corporate finance firm.[50] In 2000, he occupied a variety of positions, and holds a 50% stake in NR Atticus, Atticus Management and Atticus Capital, a hedge fund,[51] which in 2000, controlled funds approaching GB£312M.[52]
Lord Rothschild is the former chairman of Vivarte, a pan-European retailer and owner of the Kookai clothing brand. Appointed in 2000, following NR Atticus's acquisition of a 32.9% stake in what was widely regarded as the first hostile proxy fight in France, he led the group through its successful restructuring and subsequent sale to PAI Partners, a French private equity firm in 2004.[53]
Lord Rothschild became an alternate director of RIT Capital Partners plc in March 2000, and a full non-executive director in 2004 until 2010, when he stepped down from the RIT board. He remains a substantial direct shareholder of RIT and a 35% beneficial shareholder of Five Arrows Limited, a Rothschild holding company whose major asset is shares in RIT.[54][55]
Lord Rothschild is a former member of the Belfer Center's International Council at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and the International Advisory Council of the Brookings Institution.[56] He was also a member of the International Advisory Board of the Barrick Gold Corporation until 2013.[57]
Lord Rothschild has been the chairman of Volex plc, a UK-listed manufacturer, since November 2015.[58][59] He has a wide range of international business interests.[60]
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Investments
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In March 2000, The Observer wrote that, in addition to Lord Rothschild's then declared inheritance of GB£500M, his actual inheritance was "hidden in a series of trusts in Switzerland and rumoured to be worth GB£40bn".[52] Via NR Investments Ltd., his principal investment company, he was a cornerstone investment in the United Company RUSAL initial public offering in January 2010.[61] At the same time, he bought US$40M of Glencore bonds convertible into shares upon an IPO.[62][63][64]
NR Investments is also the largest shareholder (26.5% as of 2009) of Volex,[65] a Manchester-based electrical cable maker.[66] Furthermore, Lord Rothschild has an interest in various property developments in Eastern Europe (Montenegro,[67] Romania[68] and Ukraine).[69] In October 2023, Volex was targeted by hackers.[70]
In July 2010, Vallar plc, a Jersey-incorporated investment vehicle he founded, raised GB£707.2M in an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange. Vallar is led by Lord Rothschild and James Campbell, a former Anglo American plc coal and base metals chief.[71]
In November 2010, Vallar announced it was buying stakes for US$3B in two listed Indonesia[72] thermal coal (used for power stations) producers for a combination of cash and new Vallar shares, with a view to combining them to create the largest exporter of thermal coal to China, India, and the other emerging economies of Asia.[73] The transaction closed as planned on 8 April 2011[74] and Vallar plc was renamed Bumi plc in the same month.[75][76] The deal was handled in a joint venture with the Bakrie[77] family[78] (43%) and Rosan Roeslani (25%).[79][80] In September 2012, the investigation of possible finance irregularities in its Indonesian arm resulted in a 14% fall in its share price.[81][82][83] In October 2012, Lord Rothschild quit the firm's board.[84][85][86] In May 2013, the much-delayed financial results for 2012 showed a US$200M black hole.[87] It was also reported, that Roeslani, a former director of the company, had stolen US$173M from it.[88][89] In December 2013, the company changed its name to Asia Resource Minerals.[90] In June 2015, following a series of disputes with his co-investors, he abandoned his investment in the company, selling his 17.2% stake to Coal Energy Ventures.[91][92]
In June 2011, Lord Rothschild and Tony Hayward, the former chief executive of BP plc, listed a successor vehicle to Vallar called Vallares (LSE: VLRS) on the London Stock Exchange, raising US$2.2B.[93] Essentially, this was identical in every respect to the first vehicle, which was metals and mining focused, except that the new entity would acquire oil and gas assets.[94][95] In September 2011, Vallares announced a 50/50 all stock merger with Turkish Energy Campion Genel Energy, valued at US$4.2B.[96]
Lord Rothschild announced that he would take a minority stake in Lars Windhorst's investment firm Tennor International and became the company's executive chair in July 2024.[97] In January 2025, he filed a lawsuit against Windhorst, alleging default on a personal loan.[98] The next day, he said he was committed to his partnership with Windhorst, despite the ongoing lawsuit.[99]
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Controversies
In October 2008, Lord Rothschild was the subject of much press speculation when it was revealed that Labour politician Peter Mandelson and the Russian aluminium tycoon, Oleg Deripaska (RUSAL) had met when staying on a yacht moored near Corfu,[100] in order to attend a party held by Lord Rothschild.[101] After speculation that this might constitute a conflict of interest for Mandelson,[102] Lord Rothschild wrote a letter to The Times newspaper alleging that another guest was Conservative[103] Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, who, he said, illicitly tried to solicit a donation from the Russian for his party.[104][105]
Lord Rothschild has been linked to Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.[106][107][108][109][110]
In February 2012, Lord Rothschild lost[111] his libel case with the Daily Mail[112][113] tabloid newspaper, who had accused him of being a "puppet master" in reporting about his foreign trips with Mandelson.[114]
In November 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Lord Rothschild was accused of refusing to help his clients.[115]
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Personal life
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Lord Rothschild and his then-girlfriend, Iona Annabelle Neilson[116] (born 31 March 1969), a socialite and fashion model, who was the younger daughter of Maxwell Frederick "Max" Neilson (1939–2022) and Marchesa Elizabetta Maria "Elizabeth" Campus [Di] Santinelli (1943–2023),[117] eloped to Las Vegas, Nevada on 13 November 1995.[118] Neilson later told the Daily Mail newspaper: "Nat and I had been together for four years and I was 26 when I married him. He first asked me to marry him half an hour after we met and then every day afterwards. Finally, we decided to do it."[119] The couple first met on a beach in Bali, Indonesia and had been in a relationship since 1991.[120] They separated, at Neilson's request, in 1997 and their divorce was finalised in 1998, after less than three years of marriage.[121][122] Neilson was known as the longtime muse of the fashion designer Alexander McQueen and a main cast member on the first two seasons of the Bravo reality television series Ladies of London.[123] In 2014, he said: "I find it bizarre that I'm still linked with someone I was involved with literally 20 years ago.[47]
The Irish-bred British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse, Nathaniel (foaled 24 April 2008), winner of the 2011 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, was bred and owned by his mother,[124][125] and is named after Lord Rothschild.[126]
Lord Rothschild's personal wealth has often been documented by The Sunday Times newspaper, making his solo debut to their Rich List in 2009,[127] when he was estimated to be worth GB£330M.[128] In 2008, along with his father, their combined wealth was estimated to be GB£1.4B. This was the only year his wealth was combined with a family member.[129][130] In 2010, they estimated him to be worth GB£330M.[131][132][133] In 2011, he was estimated to be worth GB£1B,[134][135][136] making him a billionaire,[137][138] and was estimated to be worth the same in 2012.[139] He fell off the list in 2013, following a series of business issues,[140] with some sources reporting his worth to be estimated at GB£700M.[141] His fortune kept dropping[142] and in 2016, he was estimated to be worth GB£70M.[143][144][145][146]
Lord Rothschild gained a Montenegrin passport on the request of the then Prime Minister of Montenegro, Igor Luksic. He threw a three-day party in Montenegro in July 2011, to celebrate his 40th birthday. The birthday bash was rumoured to cost a million euros.[147][148][149][150][151]
Lord Rothschild was in a relationship with the model Eliza Cummings (born 1991) from December 2012 to October 2014.[152] The former couple lived together.[153]
Lord Rothschild often travels by private jet.[154] He owns his own a GB£35M superyacht.[155]
Lord Rothschild's four-storey townhouse in New York City's West Village was put up for sale for US$17.5M in April 2015.[156]
Lord Rothschild married his second wife, Loretta "Elle" Basey (born 1990), a former glamour model who appeared on Page 3 of The Sun tabloid newspaper,[157] in Klosters, Grisons on 23 July 2016, having been engaged since December 2015. Basey is 19 years his junior. Their wedding party was held in Stowell Park, Wiltshire, a few weeks after their wedding.[158] Lord Rothschild's father-in-law is Phillip Victor Basey (born 1956),[159] a chartered accountant, who was one of the three-man team that created UKIP's 2015 general election manifesto and was named as the treasurer of the Brexit Party in 2019.[160] Lord Rothschild's Twitter bio, in part, reads: "... and happily married to Loretta."[161] and his Instagram bio, in part, reads: "Happily married."[162] The couple have settled in Switzerland, with their dogs, and divide their time between London, Los Angeles, Florence, Paris, Moscow, New York City, and Greece.[163][164]
On 12 July 2018,[165] Lord Rothschild's 47th birthday,[166][167] his ex-wife died from a heart attack at her home in Chelsea, London. She was 49.[168] Lord Rothschild did not attend Neilson's funeral, which took place at St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge on 27 July 2018.[169][170]
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Titles and styles
- 12 July 1971 – 20 March 1990: Mr Nathaniel Philip Victor James Rothschild
- 20 March 1990 – 26 February 2024: The Honourable Nathaniel Philip Victor James Rothschild
- 26 February 2024 – present: Nathaniel Philip Victor James Rothschild, 5th Baron Rothschild
References
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