Richard Caring

Richard Allan Caring (born 4 June 1948) is a British businessman. He initially built a business, International Clothing Designs, supplying Hong Kong-manufactured fashion to UK retailers. In 2004 he diversified his business interest into property, restaurants and nightclubs. He is the chairman of Caprice Holdings, which owns and operates The Ivy chain of restaurants. Caring is commonly referred to as the 'King of Mayfair' by British media as a result of his ownership of multiple private members' club and restaurants across the Mayfair area of London, UK.

Early life Caring was born on 4 June 1948, the middle child of three born to Louis Caringi, an Italian-American GI, stationed in London during World War II, and Sylvia Parnes, a Jewish-immigrant nurse who met him in the ambulance on his way to hospital, and cared for him during his recovery. His prowess at golf, playing off scratch, As a result, he became one of the first western high fashion buyers to develop localised Chinese relationships, The manoeuvre worked, and Caring cornered the market in fast fashion. ICD at its height supplied 70% of the clothing sold by British high street retailers, This was not the normal retailer and supplier set-up but described as more of a partnership, Caring supplied Next plc via a joint venture company NV, but sold his share in the 1990s back to the retailer.

In 2009, ICD employed 250 people and was a smaller operation in the UK than it had previously been.

Caring bought Wentworth Golf Club in 2004, in partnership with then minority shareholder, airport hotel entrepreneur Surinder Arora; they paid £130m, £50m more than the club's book value at the time: a Chinese holding company associated with billionaire Yan Bin.

Caring purchased the former US Navy building in London's Grosvenor Square in 2009. Caprice Holdings also owns Sexy Fish, which was launched in 2015.

Caring began to reshape the group, which created much media coverage for someone who previously preferred to stay out of the limelight. In 2007 he purchased the Birley Group (Annabel's, Harry's Bar, Mark's Club) for £95m including the vast art collection,

In 2008 he agreed a leveraged buyout of 28 small investors in private members' club Soho House, taking 80% for £105m, with the remainder held by Nick Jones who remained CEO, also his partner in Cecconi's.

The speed with which Caring built his restaurant chain resulted in many questioning his reasoning, on both a strategic level as well as the high purchase prices paid.

Politics A friend of Lord Levy,

Caring has donated to the Conservative Party on several occasions, mainly in the form of auction prizes. This includes the hire of Annabel's in 2008 for the Conservative Party's Black and White Ball in Battersea Park, which was as an auction prize that raised £70,000.

He was also recorded as donating just over £50,000 to the party in 2010. In 2012 he was recorded as donating £170,000. This was followed by a £290,000 donation in the third quarter of 2015.

Philanthropy After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Caring donated £1m to the relief effort. Caring spent £8m flying in 450 guests by private jet, including Bob Geldof and former US president Bill Clinton, raising £11m.

Personal life Caring married his first wife, Jacqueline Stead, in 1971. and Ben, who works for Soho House.

On 26 December 2004, Caring and his sons were scuba diving in the Maldives when the Indian Ocean tsunami occurred. He left his wife to move into a £32 million home in St John's Wood with 35-year-old Brazilian Patricia Mondinni, with whom he had a son.

His friends include Sir Philip Green and Scottish philanthropist Sir Tom Hunter. His family relations include stockbroker Anthony Parnes and his son Michael Parnes, CEO of stock brokerage Old Park Lane Capital.

According to the Sunday Times Rich List in 2021, Caring's net worth is estimated to be £1.005 billion.

Controversy In December 2014, Michelle Young accused Philip Green, Caring and Simon Cowell of helping her ex-husband, businessman Scot Young, to hide assets and so avoid paying maintenance to his ex-wife and their two daughters. In February 2015, a note from HSBC bankers in Caring's files mentioned that Philip Green's wife Tina Green had been holding part of Caring's assets in cash on his behalf, prompting suspicions that Caring might have funnelled profits through Tina Green to avoid paying taxes on his assets.

Following BHS's collapse into administration in 2016, leaving a pension fund deficit of £571m, it was reported that Caring had refused to reveal how much profit he had made from selling his shares in the company, and also refused to attend a parliamentary committee in person to give evidence.