The UK’s financial watchdog has fined and banned a British financier over bids he made to buy a bank and Reading Football Club, during which he falsely claimed to own a 200mn bond portfolio.
Paul Taylor, who has been involved in several large deals over the past three decades, “acted dishonestly and with a lack of integrity” during both sets of negotiations, the Financial Conduct Authority said on Friday, fining him 489,000.
Taylor, a former bricklayer turned financier who has previously been linked to the Qatar royal family, made “false and misleading statements” while he was chief executive of the London-based firm Blue Horizon Asset Management, according to the FCA. He has also been barred from working in financial services.
In December 2023, during negotiations over the 37mn purchase of a UK bank, Taylor supported his position with documents claiming he was the ultimate beneficial owner of a 200mn bond portfolio, the FCA said. The claims triggered an exclusivity period where a seller agrees to negotiate with only one buyer.
After anomalies over his ownership were found in October 2024, Taylor advised Blue Horizon to tell the FCA that it had provided the regulator with false information.
Taylor, who was involved in an attempt to buy Chelsea Football Club in 2002, had also claimed to own the bond portfolio in a separate negotiation to buy Reading Football Club in 2024.
After Blue Horizon informed the FCA that it had provided false information, Taylor and the asset...
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