FORMER BBC chairman and keen Saints fan Gavyn Davies is set to return to business with a company delivering gourmet food.

Mr Davies, who is one of the richest people in Britain with an estimated personal fortune of at least £165m, is a familiar figure at St Mary's stadium.

Following his resignation over the Hutton report into a BBC broadcast claiming the government "sexed up" its dossier on Iraq's weapons, the 53-year-old father-of-three has begun to invest his wealth. He made his money as chief economist of American investment bank Goldman Sachs International, and was once tipped to be the Governor of the Bank of England. Instead that position went to Mervyn King, who grew up at Hedge End, near Southampton.

Mr Davies was born in what is now Zimbabwe but his family returned to the UK in 1961 and he was raised in Southampton and taught at the city's Tauntons College.

Uncertainty surrounded his future after quitting the BBC, but he has now rejoined Goldman Sachs, where he earned the tag "Wall Street's greatest moneymaking machine", as an adviser.

Also he has invested in a venture capital fund called Active Private Equity which is reportedly in talks to buy Deliverance, a London door-to-door gourmet delivery service.

One of the country's top economists, he once said his dream job was to manage his beloved Southampton FC.