Jim Slater

Who is Jim Slater?

James Derrick Slater is an investor.

Trained as a chartered accountant, he worked for Leyland Motors and became famous for writing an investment column in The Sunday Telegraph under the nom de plume of The Capitalist, where he described his own portfolio. In 1964 he started an investment company with Peter Walker, a Tory MP, called Slater Walker—in reality an authorized bank. He performed what became known as corporate raids on public companies. He was a friend and business associate of James Goldsmith.

During the secondary banking crisis in 1975, Slater Walker received support from the Bank of England. Following the takeover of the company by the Bank of England, 15 charges were brought against Slater for offences against the Companies Act by the Department of Trade, referring to the alleged misuse of more than £4 million of company funds in share deals. The case was thrown out in 1977.

In the period following his high-profile days as a high-flier in the City, Jim Slater produced an autobiography that sets out in considerable detail his early plans and visions regarding company acquisitions, and describes the processes he employed to bring them about.