It’s looking like Paul Newey got out of Ocean Finance – the firm he founded in 1991 – at the right time. He made his fortune in 2006 when he sold the Tamworth-based debt consolidation business for £200 million.
In recent times the company has seen its losses soar after it was hit with a £12 million provision for the mis-selling of payment protection insurance. In the year to December 2011 Ocean Finance lost £14.1 million up from £707,000 the previous year. It’s the fourth year running the firm has been in the red despite an increase in loans agreed. Employee numbers have fallen from their peak of 300
Paul Newey sold Ocean Finance – which he spent years building up - to American General, a subsidiary of US insurance giant AIG. He stayed on as chief executive but stood down in 2009.
Paul Newey, aged 44, enjoys a flutter and famously came close to breaking the bank at Star City Casino in Birmingham when he won £3 million and forced owner Stanley Leisure to issue a profit warning, wiping 12 per cent off its share value.
Luck has been something which has followed Paul Newey since he lost his job back in 1991 when his employer went bust. With a business partner and just £2,500 he set up Ocean Finance – based on the Centurion Business Park in Tamworth – and the rest is history.
Paul Newey lives in a seven bedroom Regency style home in Sutton Coldfield. His other business interests included Marlborough Loans, Ocean Finance’s lending arm, which is now known as Ocean Money. Diamond Financial Services provides homeowner loans and debt consolidation.
London-based New Wave ventures, which he set up in 2010 with ex-Lloyds managing director Tim Bullock, invests in businesses with growth potential. He is chairman of the company. Investments include Aeristech, a Kenilworth-based engine turbo-charger company, medical logistics firm Adiposet and Cambridge Scientific Innovations Ltd, a food and pharmaceutical product testing company.
