HE rubs shoulders with royalty and showbiz celebrities, and is friendly with some of the country's most powerful business people.

But the glamour and glitz of such connections seems a world away as I ride in the slow, rickety, lift to Michael Edelson's third floor offices at Daisy Mill on Manchester's Stockport Road.

There is a stark, steel door leading to Michael's HQ, behind which most of the 59-year-old entrepreneur's ventures are born.

His record in floating shell companies on the stock market has earned him the title of "shellmeister". Earlier this month, he unveiled his 16th - Walnut Partners.

Some have done better than others. Aerobox, which floated last year, has seen its shares soar since it announced the first commercial sales of its cargo and baggage containers, and a placing to raise cash for working capital and product development.

Others, such as the music venture Poptones, have fared less well.

Last June, it was sold for just £1 to founder Alan McGee, who discovered Oasis.

Michael said: "It was successful after we found The Hives, and we started to make really good money out of them.

"Then their contract came up, and they were signed by a major label for £5m."

He added: "It's inevitable that some lose, and some succeed. I lose too when things don't go well.

"I always think the critics focus on the share price, never on the venture capital side, in that we find money for people to bring an idea and get a business going," he said.

Only one, he insists, was a failure - Media Content, a sports rights company.

"We raised £7m and they blew it."

The highest-profile float was Knutsford, one of several Edelson shells to bear the name of a Cheshire town or village.

He put together a dream team of investors, including property tycoons Nick Leslau and Nigel Wray, former Asda chief Archie Norman and Richer Sounds boss Julian Richer.

Listed at 2p during the dotcom boom, the shares soared to a staggering 275p, which made Knutsford worth £16bn on paper.

The idea was to buy a business, and there was talk about bids for Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury's.

"We got carried away. Knutsford was the biggest buzz but, subsequently, the biggest disappointment. At the time, it made national news headlines for weeks."

Eventually, the shell reversed into the tech firm WILink, which has a market value of £27m today.

Michael's typical strategy is to find a group of investors, create a shell company and identify a suitable business in which to reverse. He usually stands down on flotation, but still holds around 12 directorships, including Manchester United FC.

Michael, an only child who grew up in Prestwich, joined the family clothing business after A-levels at Bury Grammar School.

After his father Morris, a champion boxer in his youth, retired, the family sold the company and Michael looked for another business in which to invest.

He took a 30 per cent stake in the fully-listed leather coats importer Conrad Continental, based in Daisy Mill, and became managing director.

"It was in a bit of a state, there was a lot of remedial work to do. We had ideas about what we wanted to do but it took three or four years to sort it out."

Then, in the early 1990s, Conrad tried to buy Leeds United - how the debt-ridden club would dearly love a firm offer to be tabled today - but the shareholders took up a rival offer by entrepreneur Chris Akers.

Michael said: "Football was becoming fashionable at that time. We were disappointed we didn't buy Leeds, but Conrad was by now an ideal football vehicle."

He looked at Coventry City and Derby County, but opted to reverse into Sheffield United. The shares rose from 4p to 14p and Michael exited.

Since then, he has been behind the flotations of Prestbury, Bramhall, Chelford, Mottram, Hartford, Oxygen Holdings,

Backers for his ventures have included Elisabeth Murdoch, publicist Matthew Freud, artist Damien Hirst and TV funnymen Angus Deayton and David Baddiel.

"We look for companies to buy and float at what we feel is good value.

"I learn from every deal. We always go for quality of management in the businesses we buy, and try to find something that's different."

Oxygen Holdings, founded by his daughter Emma, made its market debut in February 2000. The Internet incubator's shares soared, sending its market capitalisation from £2.2m to £240m.

"Lots of people made a profit," said Michael.

But its market value declined and it was taken over by Tera, one of its own investments.

Walnut Partners has acquired the technology business Enition, and Michael's next venture, Chestnut Prospects, is close to a deal.

"We've been trying to find something that's going to be the next `Who Wants to be a Millionaire?' game show."

You can bet your bottom dollar that Michael won't be a contestant, even though politely refuses to say how much he has made from his ventures.

But home for the married father-of-two is leafy Hale Barns.

He remains guarded for most of our meeting, even declining to confirm my understanding that he plays golf with Prince Andrew, whose outward bound charity Michael supports.

The shellmeister has always been sporty - as a teenager he played centre forward for Stoke City reserves.

His sporting endeavours may be more serene these days but his business activities are anything but.

"The adrenalin is flowing again. It's a drug. It gives me a buzz.

He adds: "People come to me every day with proposals. My goal is to work for ever - but not every day." Tweet