Our family business

The Richardson family business was founded more than 70 years ago in Oldbury, part of the Black Country and still home to the Midlands office today.

The family now operate international real estate and private equity businesses. These have been successfully run for the past 20 years by Martyn, Lee and Carl Richardson, driving economic prosperity and creating jobs. 

As an independent family business, with a track record of entrepreneurship and value creation, our current projects total in excess of £1.3billion.  They include the new West Midlands Designer Outlet that opened in April 2021 with their long-standing partner McArthurGlen, the transformational £400million Manchester First Street scheme and 30 logistical hubs across the UK, with 15 sold during 2020 and an additional 15 in the pipeline for 2021.

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The family has also developed a large private equity portfolio.  Recent investments include Coople, a Swiss based technology company and Logistyx, a US based fintech business, specialising in execution software globally.

If you have a business proposal that needs financial backing, please get in touch by calling +44 (0) 121 544 8000

History

The Richardson family business was founded in the late 1940s by twin brothers Roy and Don Richardson.

Roy is Life President of the organisation that grew from humble beginnings. Roy and Don left school at 14 to work for their father selling used commercial vehicles, often post-war surplus. They began their own business careers in 1948 after completing their national service together in the RAF.

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For the last two decades the business has been run by Roy’s three sons Martyn, Lee and Carl, expanding into  international real estate and private equity alongside their UK investments.
 

The family’s impact to the regional and national economy is significant.  Building speculatively and often in tough economic times, they manage a business that continues to undertake major brownfield regeneration in some of the UK’s most deprived and difficult areas. 

This included a headline project in their own backyard, taking on the derelict Round Oak Steel Works in the West Midlands, where 13,000 had been employed and turning it into the Merry Hill shopping centre in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.  This created more than 10,000 construction and retails jobs for local people, subsequently bringing in over £950m in local business rates to the Treasury. 

Moving into Birmingham, landmark developments include the £90 million Star City leisure complex in Birmingham Heartlands, the Fort retail park and two major leisure schemes on Broad Street, creating over 15,000 jobs in the city during the 90’s.

Their national footprint of developments has initiated continuous economic activity in other post-industrial areas including County Durham, Broadstairs, Manchester, Bristol, Mansfield, Bathgate and Swindon.

More recently the family has expanded the business into a variety of international business interests in real estate and private equity, focusing on growth capital.  It operates across the UK and also in Europe, North America, the Far East, Asia and Australasia.

The Richardson family are advised by RCL Partners in investing to create and operate sustainable office, residential, distribution centres, leisure and industrial spaces and to support entrepreneurs in growing and developing their businesses.

Current real estate developments include Tower Works, a mixed-use scheme in Leeds, Milburngate, a luxury apartment complex and hotel in Durham and a portfolio of 20 separate projects, including First Street, Grade A office space in Manchester.

Growth capital investments include Plenish, an award-winning plant-powered drinks brand, Magnet Capital, a financial services business and FR Jones & Sons, a leading supplier of goods and services for the horticultural and arboriculture market are amongst their recent private equity investments.