Robert Terry

Terry shot to fame as the boss of the AIM-listed insurance outsourcer, which was valued at £2.7bn on the stock market at the height of its success.

However, a short-seller questioned the business model in 2014, leading to the businessman being removed from the company later that year amid scrutiny over opaque share dealings. In 2015, investors were left shocked when Quindell restated its 2013 results, revising a £90m profit to a £55m loss.

Quindell’s auditor, KPMG, was fined £3.2m by the Financial Reporting Council. The firm was also investigated by the Serious Fraud Office over its accounting practices. The six-year probe ended without any action being taken.

The 57-year-old now has a hospitality business called Quob Park, centred on an estate in Hampshire, which includes winemaking, a spa and events. It generated a profit of £547,467 last year on revenues of £2.4m.

In its latest accounts filed at Companies House, the company said it was aiming to have shares in its wine production business traded on the new Pisces system for privately owned businesses. It added that it may have its stock traded on the regime and that, “longer-term, if the company continues to progress … the board may consider seeking a full public market listing”, according to The Sunday Times.

Terry told the paper: “I have ambitions to return to a stock market, whether it ends up being the UK, I don’t know for certain. I still have good contacts with a number of institutional shareholders that watch what I’m doing.

“A lot of people made money and people lost money and I regret anyone losing money in anything, including me.” He revealed plans include listing in either London, the US or Canada if the wine club operation went international.

In 2011, the insurance outsourcer and grew following an acquisition spree of various insurance products from blackbox style products to personal injury, funded by issuing shares.

Gotham City Research, an American short-seller, published a report in 2014 containing allegations about the business, which Quindell rejected at the time, causing its shares to tumble. In November, Terry and two other directors left the business amid scrutiny over share transactions.

Quindell said the trio had used a loan facility secured against existing shareholdings to increase their stakes, before clarifying that they had entered into a sale and repurchase agreement, under which they had sold Quindell shares to raise money to acquire further stock. Terry left following reports that he had sold more shares than he bought.