McManus’s buddy Lewis loses €1bn in Bear Stearns

ONE of JP McManus’s closest friends was the biggest individual loser in the St Patrick’s Day Wall Street Massacre.

Joseph (Joe) Lewis, who has known the Limerick millionaire horse owner for years, had invested heavily in the Bear Stearns bank, which was sold off in a firesale during Monday’s markets collapse.

His losses are estimated to be in the region of $1 billion (€634m million)

When the JP McManus Invitation Golf Classic was last played at Adare Manor in 2005, Mr Lewis is believed to have been the mystery buyer who paid €2 million to play a round of golf with Tiger Woods.

He is the main shareholder in Tottenham Hotspur.

Bank giant, JP Morgan, picked up Bear Stearns for $236m (€149.6m) on Monday, just over 1% of what it was valued a few months ago.

Mr Lewis, who made his fortune in trading currencies, owned about a 10% stake in Bear Stearns.

Mr Lewis married a Co Limerick woman, Essie Finn, who died in 2002. She and Mr Lewis had a son and daughter and had been separated for many years at the time of her death.

Their son Charlie manages his father’s 80,000-acre ranch in Argentina, while daughter, Vivienne, runs her father’s huge country club tourism in Florida.

For many years, Joe Lewis, 71, has been a close friend of JP McManus.

Along with actor Sean Connery, they are regulars on the golf courses of the Bahamas.

The Sunday Times Rich List estimated Joe Lewis worth at €3.03bn.