Jonathan Heller
Jonathan Anthony Gerald Heller
Background
Jonathan Anthony Gerald Heller was born in Bromley, Kent in March 1954
According to the December 2019 version of the website of Abu Dhabi Business Development (ADBD) Heller graduated from Christ Church, Oxford, as a Master of Arts in Philosophy and Modern Languages (First Class Honours). He speaks extensively at conferences and has published research and white papers on a range of subjects as well as teaching MBA courses at the Theseus-EDHEC Business School.
ADBD also claimed Heller held prominent positions in the form of a series of strategic management and political roles in the UK nuclear industry from 1976 – 1985, later serving as Secretary-General of the European Atomic Forum in Brussels, representing the European nuclear industry with European Institutions, US State Department, Russia and other Former Soviet Union states. He also ran the UK atomic energy industry pension fund as well as becoming Head of European Development for Prudential Investments. In 1992, he established a consultancy advising large multinational pension sponsors in Europe.
By December 2019 he was described as CEO of ADBD, although, according to an interview Heller gave to a Romanian reporter in March 2020, this job title came as a bit of a surprise to him, when he saw himself listed on ADBD’s website as CEO, as he had thought his job was to be an advisor to Nimer and help him bring a steady stream of business to ADBD. In the same article, he also indicated some ambivalence concerning the nature of ADBD, and of Nimer’s intended role of funding CAFC.
| J.A.G. Heller – directorships | ||||
| Organisation | Position | From | Until | |
| 1 | 3D VISUAL ENTERPRISES LIMITED | Dir | 2010-03-17 | 2010-09-07 |
| 2 | CHARLTON ATHLETIC FOOTBALL COMPANY LIMITED | Dir | 2020-01-23 | 2020-03-19 |
| 3 | EAST STREET INVESTMENTS LIMITED | Dir | 2020-01-02 | 2020-10-01 |
| 4 | EGSL-GHANA LIMITED | Dir | 2012-02-29 | 2015-06-16 |
| 5 | FRH PARTNERS LIMITED | Dir | 2010-11-04 | |
| 6 | HELLER & ASSOCIATES LIMITED | Dir | 1992-06-15 | |
| 7 | INTERNATIONAL TRADE CONCEPT LIMITED | Dir | 2013-12-16 | 2015-08-04 |
| 8 | KASSA GENERAL TRADING LTD | Dir | 2014-03-24 | 2015-11-03 |
| 9 | MARSEILLE LOANCO LIMITED (Michael James Blood of JMW Solicitors Llp, Manchester was also a director – and he was responsible for incorporating ESI) | Dir | 2019-06-26 | 2021-08-10 |
| 10 | OPUS CAPITAL PARTNERS LIMITED | Dir | 2011-07-22 | 2012-01-20 |
| 11 | OPUS CAPITAL PARTNERS ONE LIMITED | Dir | 2011-09-22 | 2012-01-20 |
| 12 | OXFORD CONSULT LIMITED | Dir | 2003-10-17 | 2013-11-12 |
| 13 | PROINTOL LTD | Dir | 2018-09-07 | 2019-08-30 |
| 14 | SHELDONIAN HOLDINGS LTD | Dir | 2018-08-29 |
Although probably of insignificant importance, the above starting date of Heller’s directorship of ESI is interesting, since he was introduced in an article on CAFC’s official site on 29 November 2019 (over a month earlier) as a director of ESI, the intended purchasers of CAFC, along with a shortened version of the above ADBD profile. It was later explained by Heller in a private email to a fan that his role was to be an independent director (Nimer and Southall both being share-holding directors).
Heller confirmed in the private email that he received a director’s fee for his role, but unlike others he did not have the additional benefits of a company car or company credit card. He claimed to have identified that, although he thought the club’s finances should balance over the season, there was a mismatch of timing, with bills arriving before funds, and had tried to resolve this issue. He claimed Southall and financial director Shaun McHugh sanctioned expenditure.
However, when the argument over financial matters occurred between Nimer and Southall in February/March 2020, Heller questioned Nimer over evidence for some of Nimer’s accusations about Southall. Nimer thereafter appeared to regard Heller as being in Southall’s camp. When Southall was served legal papers at The Valley on 12 March 2020 to suspend him, Heller (in the dark hat) and financial director Shaun McHugh (with the plastic carrier bag) were filmed leaving the building with him.
Later that month Heller put his own account of the events of 12 March 2020, along with other matters, in private emails to a fan who had sent him a list of questions. These emails now form part of the dossiers which stand behind this website.
On 20 March the club announced:
“East Street Investments Limited have removed Matt Southall and Jonathan Heller from the club’s Board of Directors. Following their departure, Claudiu Florica and Marian Mihail have now been appointed to the club’s Board. The pair were appointed by the club’s shareholder, East Street Investments Limited, on Thursday afternoon. The club’s majority shareholder His Excellency Tahnoon Nimer said: “I am pleased to be able to appoint Claudiu and Marian to the Board so that Charlton can move forward.””
Heller is shown to have resigned from the board of CAFC on 19 March 2020, although in both the private emails and his Romanian newspaper interview he questioned the legality of the way he and Southall were voted off the board. Heller remained a director of ESI until 1 October 2020, by which time its sole asset, CAFC, had been sold to Thomas Sandgaard.