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Barclay Crawford

In April last year, young  nightclub owner Alistair Paton declared he had decided to open a branch of his shareholders' club M1NT in Hong Kong rather than New York because the city was 'the place to be'.

While the club opened to a rush of publicity in November - including speculation about possible celebrity shareholders and members - the city's sparkle may have faded slightly for the 28-year-old Australian following accusations from several of his investors he has kept them in the dark, barred a billionaire for being too old and even mistreated nine black-tipped sharks.

Mr Paton says professional jealousy is behind the whispering campaign aimed at the newcomer to Hong Kong's exclusive club scene.

M1NT in Hollywood Road  may have been open for only two months  but already senior staff have quit, including the membership manager, lounge manager and Mr Paton's executive assistant.

Then there are the run-ins with two prominent club owners. Mr Paton was escorted out of fellow young-buck club owner Tony Yeung's Azure restaurant one October night after he turned up  without an invitation.

In a fiery e-mail to Mr Yeung, Mr Paton said: 'Regardless of your policies or reasons you had me and my guest thrown out halfway through our meal, which is not cool and really stupid and simply not done in this industry.'

There has been a lack of big-name celebrities or prominent businessmen signing up. Staff of PCCW chairman Richard Li Tzar-kai  at one time frantically hit the phones to try to get the Chinese papers to retract the claim their boss was a member.

There has also been criticism of the club's feature of a tank with nine black-tipped sharks, which are subjected nightly to booming music.

Robert Hueter, director of the Centre for Shark Research in Florida, said sharks picked up low frequency vibrations and light, and needed their space.

'Whether or not the specific conditions at the club cause detrimental effects depends on a variety of factors, including the intensity of the sounds and lights, the species of shark and the configuration of their enclosure,' he said. 'If the tank is too small, that could affect their health detrimentally, with or without the sounds and lights.'

Mr Paton, however, defended the shark feature, saying the fish were well looked after.

'They were actually saved from shark fin soup, mate - where they came from was a lot worse than here; the tank was a lot smaller and there were a lot more fish,' Mr Paton said. 'Contrary to reports, all nine are still there, and not one of them has died.'

Shareholders' concern about the flow of financial information stems from the fact many are far from the wealthy elite M1NT claims to attract. Investors have taken up stakes in the club for  between HK$50,000 and HK$500,000.

One shareholder with a large stake said he was disappointed he had not been informed of revenues at the venue, nor did he have any indication of when to expect dividends on the investment. 'They take your money and they don't keep you informed. If I was the guy running the place I would keep the shareholders advised every week,' he said.

Another social scene regular was biting about Mr Paton's behaviour in public: 'Every event that we go to there is a new story about something he has done or said that has offended someone. The club is a bit of a let-down really. It's miles from anywhere in Sheung Wan and is really just a place for rich white bankers.'

An annoyed Mr Paton claimed there was no substance to the allegations being made against him or his club.

'The club is doing extremely well and I think you would be hard pressed to find anything that comes anywhere near us in Hong Kong,' he said. 'If you have a place down the road that turns over HK$1.5 million a month and you've got a new place that's done HK$1.5 million in one night, I'd get irritated if I were that operator.

'The proof is in the pudding. I'm a really ambitious guy and I drive and push people really hard - there are over 120 people working for me now. Yeah, I can be painful to work for, but I can also be inspiring and pretty creative.

'To have a bar where a lot of people own it, it's a very successful idea, and many people try to prevent its progress to stop it from expanding.'

An auction at the club attracted 150 hedge-fund elite and Mr Paton is looking to set up branches in Beijing and Shanghai. 'We just bought a 97,000 sq ft property with 85 hotel rooms in Shanghai and a city block in Beijing,' he said.

Mr Paton doubted a member had been rejected for being 'too old', even though the club has what it jokingly refers to as a 'no walking stick policy'.

He admitted communication with investors had not been great since the opening but said that was due to the need to protect the computer system, which held the shareholders' and members' data. An e-mail newsletter was finally distributed to members and shareholders last month.

'I've got 300 people and you can't satisfy them all,' he said.

Bloomberg television presenter Bernard Lo is a minority shareholder of the club. While he said there was an information freeze for the first two weeks, he said contact was getting better and he had heard there was strengthening demand for those wanting to become shareholders.

Lo said it was not a publicly listed company and the shareholders had to trust the bona fides  of those running the company. 'We had a party there [on December 20] and the place was packed,' he said. 'There are a lot of institutional traders and bankers and on the weekend it's very busy.' He enjoyed the club's atmosphere, and as a man in his 40s he did not want to be 'hanging around with 21-year-olds'.

'There have supposedly been a couple of incidents around town involving Alistair but I am not a social butterfly so I don't really know about them. But anyone who runs a place like this and is only 28 is going to face the same thing,' he said. 'He has a lot of self confidence but he has always been prepared to sit down and listen to any suggestions I have had for the place.'

London's M1NT was the opulent playground of the city's new class of super-wealthy professionals - many of them happy to put down GBP20 (HK$306) to sink a 'Millionaire Margarita'.

Stars such as American rapper 50 Cent threw a premiere party there and Atlantic rowers Ben Fogle and James Cracknell booked it for farewell drinks.

But Mr Paton was ignominiously locked out of the premises of his M1NT club in Knightsbridge, London, last July after demands for tens of thousands of pounds in rent from landlord Gordon Ramsay Holdings.

Mr Paton called Ramsay's actions 'disappointing' and claimed he stopped paying the rent because of problems over air conditioning, heating and hot water. The club has since reopened in a new location. But reports suggested Mr Paton's undoing may have been to refuse membership to David and Victoria Beckham. The couple are reportedly close friends of his former landlord.



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