Rocco Forte
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The Honourable Sir Rocco Forte |
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|---|---|
| Born |
18 January 1945 Bournemouth, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Hotelier |
| Known for | Rocco Forte Hotels |
| Spouse(s) | Aliai Giovanna Maria Ricci |
| Children | 3 |
Sir Rocco Giovanni Forte, FCA, FIoD (born 18 January 1945) is an English hotelier and the chairman of Rocco Forte Hotels.
Born in Bournemouth, the son of the late Lord Forte, he was educated at St Peter's Catholic Comprehensive School, Southbourne, and Downside School. He read modern languages at Pembroke College, Oxford, where he won a blue for fencing.
He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1969, later becoming a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in 1979.
He took over from his father as CEO of the Forte Group in 1992. In the mid-1990s, the Forte Group was faced with a hostile takeover bid from Gerry Robinson's Granada. Ultimately, Granada succeeded with a £3.87 billion tender offer in August 1995 that left the family with around £350 million in cash.
In 2001, following the de-merger of Compass Group from Granada's media interests, the use of the Forte trademark was returned to Forte in a gesture intended to dispel the bitter legacy of the takeover.
After the takeover, Forte set up his own chain of hotels in 1996, initially known as RF Hotels and re-branded as The Rocco Forte Collection after the return of the Forte brand name. He bought the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh and Brown's Hotel in London for £51.5m. As of April 2013, The Rocco Forte Collection operates eleven hotels in Europe, Russia, northern Africa and the Middle East.
Forte's family wealth in 2013 was listed as £250,000,000.
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