LCI veteran in new casino role

Alan Goodenough, the former chairman of London Clubs International (LCI), has become a director of Les Ambassadeurs, the London casino, after its sale by LCI to an Indonesian cigarette billionaire.

It has emerged that the GBP 115 million deal, which was announced in February, was brokered by Mr Goodenough. The buyer, Putera Sampoerna, is believed to have been a longstanding member of the Mayfair club before deciding to make an offer for it.

Mr Goodenough, who quit LCI in 2001 with heart problems, is the senior director of Twinwood, the vehicle set up by Mr Sampoerna to buy the club. He has also overseen the appointment of Tony Jackson, a casino industry veteran, as finance director. However, the rest of the Les Ambassadeurs team, under the long-serving club director, Peter Rahr, is being retained.

Mr Sampoerna — whose family has casinos in St Petersburg and Moscow — is said to be worth about GBP 1.2 billion after selling the family’s clove cigarette business to Altria, the American tobacco group formerly known as Philip Morris, for USD 5.2 billion (£2.8 billion) at the beginning of last year.

Separately, Mr Goodenough has a 65 per cent stake in the new £6 million casino due to open in July at the Hilton London Paddington.