DAVID Williams, the City slicker who will launch Bolton Wanderers on the Stock Market, has controlled some of the most famous names in Toyland.

"Cowabunga!" was the cry when the Jersey-born entrepreneur saw the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles shoot to the top of the toy charts in Christmas 1990.

The Mister Men and the Star Wars characters have also been big name performers in Mr Williams' stable of business interests.

Now the 44-year-old tycoon, who marketed the sought-after toys through his Copyright company, is banking on the Burnden Heroes making it big in the Premier League.

He has successfully negotiated the merger of his Mosaic investment Group with Bolton Wanderers and will become chairman of the new company, Burnden Leisure plc, when it is listed on the London Stock Exchange on April 29.

Mr Williams, whose sporting interests have previously been restricted to squash and tennis, will use his expertise in the City to put the name of Burnden high on the list of leisure empires.

Wanderers will immediately be in a position to tap into the £10 million cash pile Mosaic have built up in recent years by selling off the majority of their business interests. Susan Ball, Mosaic's 35-year-old Group Finance Director, who will join the Burnden Leisure board in the same capacity, explained: "Mosaic was a vehicle used in the late 80s to build a mini-conglomerate and at one point owned 25 businesses. Its purpose in life was to provide a return for its shareholders.

"We have spent the last few years divesting the group of most of its investments to create a cash shell which now holds around £10 million."

Mosaic were looking for a new enterprise that would offer "potential growth and excitement" when Wanderers came along.

Susan Ball confirmed that the new stadium at Horwich was a major attraction and could become the hub of an expanding, broad-based leisure company.

"The new ground and the fact that the club has been run in such a brilliant way, made Bolton Wanderers the right company to pick," she explained.

"The people are great and we feel we can work well with them."

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