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Mike Foster talks to a financial engineering whiz

Fresh from achieving the sale of Northern Leisure to Luminar for £392 million, he has now won control of Allied Leisure via a £50 million all share bid at no premium. His priority is to tease maximum profits out of Allied's Megabowl alleys, Rileys cue sports and Burger King franchise operations.

Oppenheim, now 53, first hit the quoted company radar screen in the late 1970s by recapitalising a near-bust finance company called Sterling Credit by using its shares to buy solid assets.

He later split the company in two. One bit, called Dewey Warren, became a vehicle for the late Australian entrepreneur Robert Holmes a Court. The other became finance company Argyle Trust, which finally became part of US-based Beneficial Trust.

Oppenheim went on to make an optimistic bid for finance company Aitken Hume through a quoted shell called Tranwood, only to be foiled by the manoeuvres of Jonathan Aitken, later disgraced as a politician, and Aitken's Middle East ally Wafic Said.

Oppenheim later sold Tranwood to financier Peter Earl, who failed to get motoring through a variety of abortive bids. Oppenheim made the mistake of staying on Tranwood's board for too long, and the company tanked in 1991. Oppenheim also failed to rescue Leisure Investments, which sank in the same year.

But Oppenheim is made of tough stuff. He bounced back to help finance James Naylor at leisure shell Whitegate. Naylor fleshed out the company by buying leisure interests in France, nightclubs in Britain and a string of nursing homes.

Oppenheim became dubious about Naylor's strategy when the company ran up heavy losses in 1992-3 and Whitegate's shares sank. He had learned to trust people with his money only so far.

Oppenheim ousted Naylor, and put his own shoulder to the Whitegate wheel. Chopping out France and the nursing homes, Oppenheim built up a string of 70 nightclubs in towns such as St Helens and Bury, renaming the company Northern Leisure.

'Operations like these work best where the only competing leisure attraction is the public library', said Oppenheim. By proffering carrots and sticks to club managers, he ensured that cash flow was maximised and drug abuse minimised.

Five years on, Oppenheim became bored. He turned over full-time management of Northern to Adam Mills and Ray McEnhill, who had successfully built up bus company National Express. But Oppenheim disliked the way they hiked their salaries on the back of one big deal with Rank, and marshalled his fan club to support the Luminar bid this July.

Oppenheim considered retiring from the public eye. But only very briefly.

Over at Allied Leisure, chairman Ken Scobie had failed to win support from City institutions for an acquisition strategy put in place by his lieutenant Neil Goulden.

A July trading statement was slightly cautious and, weary of Allied's tedious share price, Andy Brough, fund manager at Allied's 18 per cent shareholder Schroder agreed to a takeover approach from Oppenheim's Aim-listed shell called Georgica, which provides Oppenheim with lucrative share incentives.

The bid was also supported by UBS, Clerical & Medical, Framlington and Henderson. To Scobie's fury, Oppenheim soon won more than 50 per cent support, even though Allied's profits rose from £1.4 million to £6.7 million in the year to June. 'It is a very good business, with a lousy rating', said Oppenheim.

Brokers reckon he is capable of squeezing at least £14 million out of Allied: 'We believe he will get the share price up', said one Allied shareholder. 'If he makes ten times his money we make four times ours'.

Oppenheim has pledged to slash executive salaries at Allied, but will provide a raft of share options to key members of its workforce to replace those which were previously under water.

Allied's nightclub operations are being sold, with Oppenheim's approval. Goulden, whose future is under review, has already agreed to sell half of them to Luminar.

But this shift in strategy is minor compared to the ducking and diving which has delivered substantial capital profits to Oppenheim and his backers over the years.