UK- THE late property and pornography tycoon Paul Raymond’s publishing empire, famous for adult magazines such as Men Only and Mayfair, is to be put up for sale for an estimated £10m.
Trustees to the Raymond estate, which owns large swathes of real estate in London’s Soho, have hired Cavendish Corporate Finance, the business advisers, to handle an auction of the business.
The trustees have decided that the publishing assets are a relatively small part of the overall estate and would be better off in the hands of an owner able to focus on the development of the business.
The operation, which owns 26 magazines, including eight of Britain’s top ten best-selling adult titles, is likely to appeal to rival publishers and other companies selling content via mobile phones and the internet.
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Most of the magazines, which include Escort and Club International, are published in Britain, but a small number are also produced in America.
The business, which includes a share in a cable-television channel, has seen its sales and profits drop in recent times in the face of competition from the internet.
Last year, it made profits of about £2m on turnover of £15m, although at its peak it was making far more. A little over a decade ago, for example, it made profits of £21.5m on sales of £28m.
Raymond who died almost a year ago at 82 after a long illness, built his sprawling property empire, worth several hundred million pounds, on the back of the profits generated by the soft-porn business.
The tycoon, who started in business as a teenager selling nylons from a market stall during the second world war, began in the adult entertainment business by opening the Raymond Revue Bar in Soho. This had followed an earlier stint in show business as a stage clairvoyant.
Launched in 1957, the Revue Bar was the first venue in the UK to feature striptease acts where the women moved on stage.
The entrepreneur was able to exploit a legal loophole by making the establishment a members’ club, although visitors could join on the door.
Dancers performed under names such as Bonnie Bell the Ding-Dong Girl and Julia Mendez the Snake Girl, and the Revue Bar became a Soho landmark.
Raymond moved into publishing in 1964 with the launch of men’s magazine King, but the venture proved a failure.
Undaunted, Raymond tried his hand at publishing again, acquiring the ailing Men Only, which he relaunched in 1971. It proved a hit, quickly finding a circulation of about 500,000.
Buoyed by the success, Raymond began launching other titles, such as Razzle. Investing the proceeds from the business in property assets proved highly lucrative, and by 1992 he had overtaken the Duke of Westminster to become the richest man in Britain with a fortune estimated at £1.5 billion.
The 2007 edition of the Sunday Times Rich List, the last published before his death, estimated Raymond’s wealth at £650m.
The tycoon’s business interests are run by his nephew Mark Quinn. Two of the biggest beneficiaries from the Raymond estate are understood to be Raymond’s granddaughters, Fawn James and India Rose James.
