He is one of the City of London’s most successful investors, with a fortune estimated at £300m, a luxury yacht and a collection of beautiful homes. But the star fund manager Terry Smith has hit heavy weather in the tropical paradise of Mauritius, from where he runs his business.
Since February, Smith has been locked in an acrimonious public legal battle with his former partner of 13 years. He has launched a barrage of court cases and complaints against Teresa de Freitas, covering at least eight separate matters ranging from alleged embezzlement from a joint account, to disputes over cars and household items. She has retaliated with at least four claims of her own.
The former colleague, who is 21 years his junior, claims she is being “victimised for having left a powerful and rich man”.
Because of the cases against her, De Freitas, 47, has been ordered to surrender her passport and cannot leave the island in the Indian ocean. Her bank accounts have been frozen, her legal bills are mounting, and in April, she was arrested and bailed after Smith, 68, accused her of stealing furniture and other items including a Nespresso coffee machine, a Black & Decker drill and bedsheets.
The legal battles arose after a custody and access dispute about De Freitas’ child who, Smith says, he has treated as his own since birth, and would like to continue a relationship with. De Freitas says she cut ties between her child and Smith because she believed his actions would strip her of all parental rights. She says the pair were engaged in negotiations and making progress when Smith unilaterally ended their discussions and filed legal claims against her.
Smith’s lawyers say although he is not legally obliged to provide financial support to his ex-partner, he has made offers and has continued to provide for the child. De Freitas says she does not consider his financial offer adequate and so the pair – who never married – have not reached agreement over it.
Lawyers for Smith say there is no power imbalance between the parties and that his ex-partner has the means to defend herself. They say the matter is a private family dispute, and that Smith’s preference has always been to reach a settlement.
However, articles in several newspapers and numerous court hearings have pushed the multimillionaire’s fiercely guarded private life into the public domain.
Smith rose from modest beginnings as the son of a lorry driver in London’s east end to become one of the City’s most admired stock pickers, hailed as Britain’s answer to Warren Buffett. Fundsmith, which he founded in 2010, is the UK’s largest stock-focused investment fund and manages £27bn on behalf of clients ranging from small savers to big institutions.
In 2014, Smith and a handful of his staff opened an office on Mauritius, and he and De Freitas relocated there with her child. The couple shared a villa…
Read More: ‘Victimised for leaving a rich man’: star fund manager’s bitter break-up |