Robert Waley-Cohen worked for 12 years at Christie's the fine art auctioneers including three years as their General Manager in USA based in Manhattan.
Robert was a founding shareholder and CEO of Alliance Imaging Inc. in southern California in 1983 which went public on NASDAQ in 1987 and then in a public to private transaction the company was bought in 1988 by Donaldson Lufkin and Jenrette when Robert resigned as CEO. The company is now called Alliance Healthcare Services Inc (quoted on NASDAQ as AIQ) and operates as the partner of 1,100 healthcare providers in 46 States.
In 1989 Robert was a founding shareholder and CEO of Alliance Medical Ltd a European provider of diagnostic imaging services. This attracted private equity from 3i in 1996, who sold their stake to Bridgepoint Capital in 2001 and in 2007 the company was sold to Dubai International Capital for US$1.2bn.
Robert was a founding shareholder in Portman Healthcare which attracted venture capital in 2014 from Living Bridge, who bought one third of the company, followed in 2018 by the sale of a majority of the company to Core Capital for more than US$0.5bn while the original shareholders retain a significant share of the equity.
Robert continues to be an active investor in a small number of private companies in UK, USA and New Zealand.
Robert is the senior Trustee of a family Trust that runs a 2000 acre rural Estate on the Oxfordshire and Warwickshire borders. Robert has been a shareholder in My Farmer since it was started and My Farmer’s expertise have been utilised for trials on the Estate since 2016 which are looking very promising.