Sean Collidge, youngest son of Ruth and Albert Collidge was born in 1943 and spent his early family life in North London, England.

Sean's father, Albert, a famous textile engineer together with his partner Tommy Klinger, were responsible for the creation of the first ladies stockings, with factories in both England and the USA.  Sean jokes that his father was responsible for "many a young mans dream" when recounting his fathers expertise.

Sean lost both parents in his early years and was educated in London and Leicester by family and friends.  Sean's early entrepreneurial abilities surfaced at 14 years old when he took suede and leather offcuts from a family friend creating mens ties from them, selling to independent retailers for cash.  As he remembers "a nice little earner".

In 1959 Sean joined The Harry Fenton Group, the UK's largest retail fashion group at the time, as a salesman and within 12 months was working at the head office as the buyer for 40% of the companies products, he was an early pioneer of sourcing goods in the Far East.

At aged 20, Sean was headhunted to assist in the reconstruction of John Michael Plc, where the creditors had taken control.  Together with the management team, Sean turned the business around and expanded the group concepts of 'Guys 'n Dolls' and 'Westerner' shops and created an import wholesale company to maximise profits.

In 1966 Sean established his first company, Bear Investments, sourcing, designing and wholesaling from the Far East to the UK/Canadian/American markets, forging relationships with K Mart, Superdrug and Milletts.  This proved highly successful and together with Chinese partners Sean built factories in Vietnam and Hong Kong.  In 1975 Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese Army and Sean lost his factories and his fortune.  The financial lost was so great that the company was forced to close. 

Sean joined Millett Leisure Plc in 1976 as a main board director and managing director of overseas subsidiaries.  The group grew in profitability and Sean was a fundamental player in negotiating the eventual sale of the business to Sears Plc.  

Sean returned to the Far East, establishing a new clothing design business and investing heavily in property over the next several years.

In 1992 after visiting the USA, Sean first came across the 'factory outlet' retailing concept and in 1993 Sean's personal accountant, David Rothenberg, introduced an opportunity to purchase a large property and land in the North East of England.  Sean recognised the chance to bring the outlet retail concept to the UK.  He formed Freeport Leisure Ltd in 1993.  Over the next 14 years Sean constructed and operated 9 Freeport centres with 3 million square feet of build in the UK and mainland Europe.  In 1994 Sean listed Freeport on the London Stock Exchange, its shares listing at 60 pence and peeking 10 years later at £6.00.  The Freeport brand grew rapidly as Sean created properties together worth more than £500 million whilst steering the company as Managing Director and Chairman.  

Sean developed Freeport centres to incorporate a fusion of retail and leisure, a concept that has been emulated by others in recent years.  The one million square foot Freeport centre in Lisbon, Portugal is an example of this 'fusion concept'.

Following a dispute with activist shareholders, Sean resigned his position and sold his interests in Freeport Plc in 2008.  

In 2006 Sean relocated to become resident in Monaco, where he currently operates his investment companies today.

Contact..... info@seancollidge.com