Billionaire bungalow tycoon ‘Bob the Builder’ in bankruptcy row

A billionaire bungalow tycoon has been plunged into a bankruptcy row amid allegations of a trail of unpaid debts.

Robert Bull, who recently sprang from nowhere to be named among Britain’s wealthiest individuals, has had part of his property empire placed into administration by one of the country’s biggest listed private equity investors, the Telegraph can disclose.

Mr Bull has disputed the legal action, claiming that it is “based on false claims and unfounded information”.

Nicknamed “Bob the billionaire bungalow builder”, Mr Bull was a new entrant on the Sunday Times rich list last month with his net worth estimated at nearly £2bn.

RoyaleLife, the company he co-founded, lays claim to be the UK’s largest bungalow provider and Mr Bull has built the business by turning caravan parks across the country into single-story villages.

However, court filings reveal a slew of insolvency claims have been filed against companies run by Mr Bull in recent months.

The most recent was last week, when City law firm DLA Piper served Mr Bull’s leisure estates business, Time Group Holdings Limited, with a winding up petition.

It followed the same entity being served with a winding up petition by HM Revenue & Customs at the end of last year.

RoyaleLife, meanwhile, has had an administrator appointed over it by ICG-Longbow Senior Secured UK Property Debt Investments, a debt fund run by a subsidiary of Intermediate Capital Group, the £4bn FTSE 250 investor that is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

A spokesman for ICG Longbow said: “We appointed administrators in relation to our investment in RoyaleLife.

“Our primary duty is to our funds and their investors, and this was a prudent measure to protect the company’s interests following a winding up petition being filed by a third-party creditor against the borrowers under the loans.”

Mr Bull, executive chairman of  RoyaleGroup, said: “Like many companies we had a challenging time emerging from the pandemic and, as an entity, we became subject to winding up orders based on false claims and unfounded information.

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“These have either been dismissed or are the subject of legal action.

“More than 200 legal entities comprise the RoyaleGroup and these remain unaffected. I therefore want to reassure our funders, suppliers, residents, and employees that it is very much business as usual.”

The row threatens to overshadow a riches-to-rags-to-riches story that has helped win Mr Bull glowing press coverage of his life story.

Mr Bull was “born with a platinum and diamond-encrusted spoon in my mouth” according to a newspaper article in May.

He said: “My three sisters and I were brought up with everything we could want. My grandfather started out in the caravan park industry in 1945 and all his children, including my dad, went into the same business, which evolved into the modular-build bungalow product we supply today.”

His father carried on the family business until he “lost everything in the 1990s banking crisis”.

Mr Bull then rebuilt the empire and established Britain’s second-biggest caravan group with his business partner. However, in 2016 the company ran into trouble and was declared bankrupt, reportedly under the weight of debts totalling £3.5m.

After a period of ill-health, the entrepreneur struck on the idea of converting caravan parks into bungalow villages. He has pitched the properties to ageing Britons keen to downsize.

RoyaleLife is building 64 bungalow communities with a further 40 in planning. A spokesman for the company said a “recapitalisation of the business is taking place with the aim of installing 1,000 new bungalows across the UK, starting later this year”.

Mr Bull’s return to success has allowed him to enjoy luxurious trappings such as a £10m mansion in Southampton. It has a 100ft kitchen, three-lane ten pin bowling alley and six double garages that house a £4m collection of 12 supercars.

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