金融人語：鑽石夫鑽石妻
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GS(14)@2012-05-31 00:52:35http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/financeestate/art/20120530/16381044
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GS(14)@2012-05-31 00:53:59不過，英國《每日郵報》在09年爆料，當時屬七旬老翁、同太太有三名子女的格拉夫，原來十幾年來搭上了後生30多歲的情婦。情婦更一度在 Graff擔任格拉夫助理，09年更為格拉夫誕下私生女，知情人士透露，格拉夫一直深愛 Anne Marie，不願意與太太分開。
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ ... e-standing-him.html
Billionaire diamond tycoon Laurence Graff has fathered a lovechild at the age of 71 – with a former employee 34 years his junior.
The Mail on Sunday understands that the wealthy businessman’s wife Anne Marie intends to stick by him – even though she filed for divorce earlier this year.
At the last minute, she dramatically cancelled legal proceedings, which could have led to Britain’s largest ever divorce settlement.
Josephine Daniel
The mistress: Josephine Daniel has been having an on-and-off affair with jewel tycoon, Laurence Graff, for nine years. Pictured with her pampered pooch Daisy
We can now disclose that Laurence’s mistress, brunette jeweller Josephine Daniel, 37, was pregnant at the time, and gave birth to their daughter in July.
Mr Graff, a self-made mogul worth an estimated £2.2billion, is understood to be looking after the girl financially.
One society insider said: ‘This baby has been an open secret in London society circles for months. Laurence is trying to do the honourable thing. He is very proud to be a father at his age, and he plans to look after Josephine and his daughter.’
The Graffs – who have been married for 47 years – were both at a charity event in London last week, where they were said to be relaxed in each other’s presence.
‘It might seem to be an unusual situation to many people, but it’s not unusual for a family like the Graffs to have mistresses,’ said a friend.
‘Laurence has been having an affair with Josephine on and off for nine years.
‘He and Anne Marie seem to be very much together and were very happy in one another’s company on Monday. Of course, Anne Marie is aware of the baby.’
Laurence met Josephine in 1999 in London nightclub China White, according to friends, and she subsequently worked as his assistant at the Graff store in Bond Street.
They travelled the world together – visiting New York and Monte Carlo – and Laurence fell for her. In March this year, ‘the divorce that never was’ made headlines when, moments before London’s High Court was set to issue the decree nisi, the hearing was adjourned.
The Graffs issued a statement saying: ‘Mr and Mrs Graff deny that they are, or have any intention of, getting divorced.’
At the time it was not known that Laurence had resumed his relationship with Josephine, who had become pregnant.
‘Laurence is well known for having a twinkle in his eye but he loves his wife and has no intention of ever divorcing her,’ said a source.
‘He has made no secret of his surprise, even delight, at becoming a father again. People have been congratulating him and he’s not appeared too unhappy at it all.
In fact, he smiles when asked about it.
‘He is 71 now but still keeps himself in shape and prides himself on acting and looking like a man much younger than his years.
‘He is obviously fit enough to father a child with a brunette almost half his age. The feeling among most of his male friends is, “Good for him!”
‘Obviously he will look after Josephine and the baby financially.’
Graff, who has been dubbed ‘The King of Bling’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’, has two sons – Francois, 44, who runs the London branch of his father’s business empire, and Stephane, 43, a successful artist – as well as a daughter, 29-year-old Kristelle, all with Anne Marie, 71.
The jeweller counts Elizabeth Taylor, Donald Trump and the Sultan of Brunei among his clients and friends.
A self-made man, he left school at 14 and cleaned toilets before becoming an apprentice jeweller in London’s Hatton Garden. He is now Britain’s tenth wealthiest man and owns luxury homes in London, Switzerland, France and New York.
He has a private jet, a 150ft yacht, two sprawling vineyards in South Africa and a stake in a major South African diamond mine.
He also has a legendary art collection which includes an Andy Warhol painting of Elizabeth Taylor called ‘Red Liz’, valued at £35million.
Last December he bought the 35-carat Wittelsbach Diamond for £15million, the most ever paid for a diamond at auction.
London-born Josephine is the daughter of former Royal Shakespeare Company director Ronald Daniel, 67, and his actress wife Anjula, 64. The couple later divorced and Ronald now works as a freelance director in New York.
Inheriting her parents’ creative abilities, Josephine trained as a gemologist at Kingston University in Surrey. She was rewarded with a Fellowship to the Gemological Association 12 years ago before specialising in antique jewellery. She continued her training at Cartier before moving to Graff.
In an earlier interview with The Mail on Sunday, she revealed one of her greatest extravagances: organic pet food for her dachshund Daisy.
She admitted spending £150 on a dog car seat and another £50 for a set of steps to allow Daisy to walk up on to her bed.
A source said: ‘She’s a nice girl who would never have gone public with this because Laurence has been good to her. And she loves him. They have known each other for years. She was in awe of him and then she fell in love with him.’
Additional reporting: Keri Sutherland
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ ... .html#ixzz1wNAKP4Yx
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GS(14)@2012-05-31 00:57:25查實 Graff在70年代曾經在倫敦上市，與小股東因股息問題有爭拗，幾年後 Graff以低過招股價的水位私有化公司，自此絕迹資本市場。格拉夫在2010年接受 FT訪問，曾經信誓旦旦話，唔會再把 Graff上市。
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f3a24a ... .html#axzz1wNAj6Mrs
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The Diamond King, as Laurence Graff is sometimes called, has a regal air. Sporting an impeccably cut navy suit and tie (made by his tailor in London, rather than his one in Milan) with matching silk handkerchief tucked into his jacket pocket, he is the picture of restrained elegance.
It is an image reinforced by his surroundings - the Mayfair headquarters of Graff Diamonds, the company he founded in the 1960s, are high-ceilinged and cream-walled, the perfect backdrop for his modern art collection, which includes Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Disappointingly, the man also known as "The King of Bling", who has made billions over the years selling jewellery and gemstones and has five homes in different countries (his main residence is Gstaad, Switzerland), is not done up like a Christmas tree. In fact, the only gem in evidence is a tiny diamond on his watch.
Yet, beneath the refined surface are traces of the tough working-class kid he used to be. "Your personality in life doesn't really change," he grins.
On occasion, he insists, his uppermiddle-class voice slips to reveal the accent of his youth. "I was a cockney," he says.
Born a year before the second world war in the East End of London to Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe who ran a tobacconist, he says he "became street-smart very early". It sparked an interest in trade: "I saw people [in the local market] buying and selling . . . counting cash. I saw as a young boy that people could make something out of nothing."
The environment made him aware of the importance of diamonds. "Jews have always had to move. Then it was a bad time, people were paranoid. What you do if you're paranoid is put your money somewhere safe: diamonds." He describes himself now as "proud to be a Jew" but not religious.
As a child, he could not have dreamt how things would turn out. ("When you have nothing, the first £10 is a fortune. You can't imagine £1bn.") Now his personal fortune is, according to the 2009 Sunday Times Rich List, estimated to be £1.2bn ($1.9bn, €1.4bn); Graff Diamonds has more than 30 retail outlets worldwide, selling high-end jewellery and gems to the likes of Oprah Winfrey and the Beckhams. Unlike other high-end jewellers, such as Cartier, Graff Diamonds is involved at every level of the diamond business from mining (through shares in Gem Diamonds, an African miner) to cutting and polishing in offices in Antwerp, Johannesburg and New York (through his controlling stake in the South African Diamond Corporation). In 2008, the group's global turnover was $1bn.
It is hard to imagine what the young Mr Graff would have made of his trip this week to Washington for the unveiling of the Wittelsbach-Graff diamond at the Smithsonian Institution. He shelled out $24.3m (almost $10m more than the expected price and the most ever paid for a diamond at auction) for the gem at Christie's in London in 2008.
Originally from India, the diamond was taken to Europe in the 17th century - in 1664, King Philip IV of Spain gave it to the Infanta Margarita Teresa to mark her engagement to Leopold I of Austria before passing in the 18th century to the Wittelsbachs, members of Bavaria's ruling house.
Mr Graff says the purchase was a savvy investment. Critics have, however, doubted the wisdom of his next step - repolishing it to eliminate the chips and improve the clarity but reducing the stone from 35.52 carats to 31. The move has been likened by purists to making the Mona Lisa prettier. The decision prompted a rare moment of self-doubt - approximately 10 minutes he says, admitting: "It was a risk." But he beams with pride contemplating the outcome: "It's a ball of fire; it's beautiful."
His drive to "hunt" for top-end diamonds and open new stores derives, he says, from his "big ego". He is unabashed. "Those who don't have an ego couldn't do what I'm doing. I am the best; I will remain the best. OK. That's ego, but it drives me."
Even as a teenager he had a swagger. After leaving school at 14, he became an apprentice at a jeweller in Hatton Garden, London's historic jewellery trade centre, before being fired three months later. He then got another job repairing rings and making small pieces of jewellery.
At the age of 17, he decided to go it alone when the business he was working for collapsed. He took his designs on the road, knocking on the doors of jewellers all over England. "I knew I could sell, I knew I could do anything, I knew I could fly," he grins. In 1962, at the age of 24, he opened Hatton Garden's first retail shop.
After years of travelling, selling his wares overseas, in 1973 he decided to establish a store in Knightsbridge. "The oil explosion in the 1970s meant all of these sheikhs were coming over with more money than they'd ever had. We didn't have time to count [their cash] and so had to weigh it," he says. Then, he recalls, the oil boom dried up. Was he disheartened? "As one door closed another opened . . . Brunei became a major country and the royal family became important customers," he explains. "Money just changes hands."
Seeing regions' economies rise and fall has given Mr Graff perspective on the recent financial meltdown, which triggered a crisis in the diamond industry, as owners closed mines rather than sold diamonds at reduced prices. "When you are in a business like diamonds, whether you sell today or tomorrow it doesn't matter. I don't mind about profits from year to year." In 2008, the most recently recorded financial year, profits from UK operations were $77m, down from $117m in 2007. He believes turnover for 2009 is down a further 20 per cent but declines to disclose earnings aside from saying, "We are in profit."
This focus on the long-term means Mr Graff would never float his company. He tried it once in the 1970s. After a few years, he bought all the shares back and took it private again. "I couldn't stand up at an annual general meeting and say 'your company'. I was doing all the work," he says.
He is confident of the outlook now diamond production has restarted and prices have increased. His eye is fixed on China, describing it as "the biggest thing for my company". He has opened one store in Shanghai, and more are planned for Beijing.
Mr Graff's energy shows no signs of abating - he plans to take the Graff brand beyond jewellery through his latest venture, Delaire wine estate in Stellenbosch, South Africa. On the question of his age, he is coy. "Old enough," is all he says. (He is 71.)
Quite why the trim and youthful Mr Graff is bashful is a mystery. Perhaps his reticence is due to the inevitable next question: when will he retire? "Never, never."
He denies his refusal to stop working is a source of frustration for his son, François, the company's managing director and next in line to run Graff Diamonds. The operation is a family concern - Laurence's brother Raymond runs the workshops and his nephew Elliott supervises production.
Family is clearly important. He was close to his mother who died at the age of 98 in 2008.
"My mum was a very lovely woman. To the last day she'd ask, 'Is everything OK? You're not doing anything wrong are you?' " And was he? "No. Not in business anyway."
That leads to the rather vexed subject which has been splashed across the tabloids: the birth of his daughter five months ago, the result of an extramarital relationship. His voice softens. "I saw my daughter yesterday; I see her whenever I can. She's supported very well. Who knows, she might become chairman of Graff Diamonds one day," he jokes.
He remains with his wife, Anne-Marie, to whom he has been married for 47 years. While we are in difficult territory, does he not worry about the origin of some of his clients' wealth? Imelda Marcos, wife of Ferdinand Marcos, the corrupt former president of the Philippines, was a valued Graff customer, for example.
He recalls spending an evening with her and the actor George Hamilton on the bed of her suite at the Waldorf Astoria in New York looking through her jewels. "There will always be rogues in the world," he says. "Who am I to judge? I'm a trader."
Crime is a subject he is all too familiar with. Last year, armed raiders stole gems worth £40m from his London New Bond Street shop in Britain's largest jewel heist. Nine people, according to Mr Graff, are awaiting trial. "It was a huge loss financially, our insurance premiums have gone up considerably. We haven't got the jewels back." Typically, the raid did little to dent his confidence. His eyes light up explaining the reason for the robbery: "[Thieves] want the best."
The CV
Born: June 1938, in the East End of London.
Education: Left school at 14.
Career: At 14, he got his first job as an apprentice ("a dogsbody") at a Schindler's workshop in Hatton Garden, the jewellery district in London. Three months later, he was sacked. He got another job where he learnt how to repair rings and make small pieces of jewellery.
At 17, he decided to go into business alone. At 24, he owned two small jewellery shops.
In 1974, he set up in Knightsbridge, selling to buyers from the Middle East, enriched by the oil boom. This brought him into contact with serious money for the first time.
Interests: Collecting modern art, skiing, travelling.