Terry Ramsden takes stake in PR firm Hansard

Terry Ramsden, the financier, racehorse owner and convicted fraudster, cemented his return to the business community yesterday, taking a 10 per cent stake in Hansard Group, a public relations company.

Terry Ramsden, the financier, racehorse owner and convicted fraudster, cemented his return to the business community yesterday, taking a 10 per cent stake in Hansard Group, a public relations company.

Mr Ramsden invested £1.5m of his own capital in a £10m share placing by Hansard, which was set up by Adam Reynolds, a former stockbroker, in 2000. He has options to buy up to another 60 million shares, which would increase his stake to 20 per cent.

"Hansard will become Terry's corporate investment vehicle," Mr Reynolds said, adding that he had known Mr Ramsden for 10 years and was not put off by his past. The £10m raised will be used to iden-tify investment opportunities.

In the past few months Mr Ramsden, who was convicted of concealing assets from his creditors and spent 10 months in prison, has been setting up a number of private companies. One of these, Griffin Leisure Limited, is being bought by Hansard. Mr Ramsden has created four businesses this year including an internet development company.

Hansard also announced that it was in advance negotiations to buy a rival public relations company for £1.4m in a cash and shares deal. This will double its client list to 85, the majority of which are AIM-listed companies.