Blair Starts Investment Firm Licensed to Arrange Stock Deals, Filings Show

Tony Blair, the U.K. prime minister from 1997 to 2007, has started an investment firm, regulatory filings show.

The London-based company is registered under the name Firerush Ventures No. 3 LP, is authorized by the Britain’s Financial Services Authority, and has six employees, according to an FSA filing. Firerush, while it isn’t authorized to hold client money, is licensed to arrange “deals in investments” including stocks, warrants and debentures, and will do business under the name Tony Blair Associates, according to the filing.

The firm isn’t a bank and sought FSA clearance for some workers out of “an abundance of caution,” Blair’s office said in an e-mailed statement.

“The idea that Tony Blair is starting a bank or finance house for the super-rich is fatuous,” the statement said. “Tony Blair Associates provides strategic advice, on a commercial and pro-bono basis, on political and economic trends and governmental reform. Tony Blair provides advice within his areas of expertise. TBA does not hold itself out as offering investment or financial advice.”

Following his career as prime minister, Blair developed business interests including working as an adviser to JPMorgan Chase & Co. The Daily Mail newspaper reported in March that he has earned 15 million pounds ($23.3 million) since leaving office.

He’s donating the proceeds of his autobiography, “A Journey,” to the Royal British Legion, a charity that cares for military veterans. The book, to be published Sept. 1 by Random House, covers Blair’s decade in office, including his difficult relationship with his successor, Gordon Brown.

The Sunday Times reported on Blair’s new company yesterday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nandini Sukumar in London at nsukumar@bloomberg.net.