James Caan

Successful Entrepreneur and ‘Dragon’

James Caan, 46, joined the panel in the fifth series of Dragons’ Den, BBC2’s business venture capitalist programme. The chief executive of private equity firm Hamilton Bradshaw, Mr Caan has been building and selling businesses for more than 20 years.

In 1985, he founded the Alexander Mann Group, an executive headhunting firm with a turnover of £300m and operations in more than 50 countries. He sold the company in 2002. Then at 40 he took a year out to study for the advanced management program at Harvard Business School.

Caan set up London-based Hamilton Bradshaw in 2004, specialising in buy-outs, venture capital, turnrounds and real estate investments, and development in opportunities in the UK and continental Europe. The company invests up to £10m in each transaction.

Married with two daughters, both at university, Mr Caan has homes in north London, the south of France and Pakistan.