Michael James Shanly (born December 1945) is a British multimillionaire businessman. He is the founder of the Shanly Group, a housebuilder and commercial property investment firm, where he currently serves as Chairman.[1]

Career

In 1969, Shanly founded Shanly Homes, a property company headquartered in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire.[2][3] He also founded the commercial property business, Sorbon Estates, which has invested in market towns such as Amersham, Marlow, Maidenhead, Windsor, Berkhamsted and Weybridge.[4][5] By the mid-1980s, Shanly Homes and Sorbon Estates had developed 2,000 homes and 40 commercial properties.[6]

Shanly is a founding member of The Partnership for the Rejuvenation of Maidenhead (PRoM,)[7] established in 2008 to regenerate the town centre of Maidenhead.[8][9] As part of this, Shanly Homes redeveloped Chapel Arches, which provided 242 new homes across more than three acres, linking with the Maidenhead Waterways project.[10]

By 2019, Shanly Group had built over 12,000 homes and acquired a commercial property portfolio with over 1,300 tenants.[6]

Overall, Shanly is the owner of nine companies and is the Chairman of Shanly Group.[1][11]

Philanthropy

Shanly Foundation was established in 1994. Since its launch, the foundation has contributed over £26m to local charities and community organizations.[6]

In 2015, Shanly was ranked 122nd in Britain's top 200 donors.[12]

Shanly is a former Scout and has donated to local scout groups throughout the years. In 2017, Shanly Foundation teamed up with The Scout Association to launch a Building Futures competition to improve meeting places for Scout Groups. Offering 12 prizes ranging from £5,000-£100,000 this was the Foundation's biggest donation to date.[13] The Woodhouse Eaves Scout Group in Loughborough was announced as the main winner and was awarded £100,000 to build a new Scout hut.[14]

The Shanly Foundation has also had a long-standing partnership with The Woodland Trust since 2010. The Shanly Foundation has helped raise more than £350,000 and funded the planting of more than 20,000 trees specifically in the Heartwood Forest, Hertfordshire.[15]

Personal life

Shanly was born in December 1945 in High Wycombe.[16] He lives in Berkshire.[7]

According to the Sunday Times Rich List, Shanly was worth an estimated GBP£265 million in 2014.[11] and GBP£320 million in 2015.[11] In 2012, he was found guilty of tax evasion on his mother's inheritance via a Swiss bank account.[17] He was fined GBP£469,444 for it.[17] He was the only Briton to be "publicly identified" for failing to declare taxes on his Swiss bank account prior to Swiss Leaks.[18][19] This money had already been donated to a children's charity in 2008.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b "Michael Shanly". Bloomberg. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  2. ^ "About Us". The Shanly Group. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  3. ^ "Company Overview of Shanly Homes Limited: Michael Shanly". Bloomberg Business. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  4. ^ "Offices, Moorings, Retail, Storage and Industrial units to let". www.sorbonestates.com.
  5. ^ Grant, Pete (June 6, 2014). "Shoppers slam 'hypocritical' pop-up shop scheme". Bucks Free Press. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  6. ^ a b c "About". Shanly Foundation. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  7. ^ a b "100 influential Berkshire and Buckinghamshire men".
  8. ^ "Partnership for the Rejuvenation of Maidenhead". Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.
  9. ^ "PRoM delight at Town of the Year award for Maidenhead". www.sorbonestates.com.
  10. ^ "Artist impressions show next stages of Chapel Arches development".
  11. ^ a b c "Sunday Times Rich List". The Sunday Times. No. 56. April 26, 2015.
  12. ^ "Sunday Times Giving List 2015". www.cafonline.org.
  13. ^ "Scout groups could win £100,000 in Shanly Foundation competition backed by Bear Grylls".
  14. ^ "Woodhouse Eaves win £100,000 to build their dream HQ".
  15. ^ "Shanly Homes - Our partners - Partnerships - The Woodland Trust". www.woodlandtrust.org.uk.
  16. ^ "Shanly Group Limited". Companies House. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  17. ^ a b c "Guilty tax dodger to pay £469,000". BBC News. 4 July 2012.
  18. ^ Syal, Rajeev (1 November 2016). "HMRC investigating £1.9bn in potential tax avoidance by super-rich". The Guardian.
  19. ^ Crace, John (4 November 2016). "The Spectator hands out more of its sad awards – where was mine?". The Guardian.
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