Telegraph co-owner avoids bankruptcy after High Court settlement
A senior member of the Barclay family, which owns The Telegraph, has struck a confidential settlement with a leading private bank to avoid the threat of bankruptcy.
According to court filings, Investec has dropped a legal claim against Alistair Barclay after months of wrangling over almost ￡1m in unpaid debts.
The settlement was submitted to the High Court in late July, two days before Mr Barclay was expected to appear before a judge.
Details of the agreement have been kept private. However, it comes after Investec – which only offers bank accounts to individuals with more than ￡3m of assets – hired investigators to track down the Barclay heir in Monaco.
The dispute exposed the financial challenges faced by Mr Barclay, the youngest of Sir David Barclay’s four sons, amid turmoil in the family’s business empire.
Court documents claimed that as well as allegedly defaulting on ￡946,754 of borrowings from Investec, Mr Barclay had also triggered a default on a ￡22.5m facility from Deutsche Bank.
During a previous court hearing in June, Investec alerted the judge to the fact that Mr Barclay had enlisted insolvency experts at Begbies Traynor to explore a so-called individual voluntary arrangement (IVA) to avoid bankruptcy.
The prospective IVA, which had reportedly only offered creditors just 7p in the pound, had led to the judge delaying Mr Barclay’s fate until a later date.
However, proceedings have now been drawn to a close after the settlement was reached, with Mr Barclay also understood to have avoided the threat of an IVA.
An Investec spokesman said: “We confirm that the matter is settled between the parties, the terms of which are confidential.”
As part of the legal battle, Investec had discovered that Mr Barclay was living in a seafront tower block called Le Roccabella in Monaco, where Sir Philip Green reportedly owns a penthouse.
It was claimed that he moved to the principality with his mother after selling a multimillion-pound townhouse in Chester Square, Belgravia.
The bank also alleged that Mr Barclay, co-founder of the online estate agent Yopa and a motor racing driver, had failed to repay his debts despite appearing to own an array of UK assets.
This included a ￡10,000 loan to a company called “Dangerous Don Limited” and a multimillion-pound property in Mayfair, which is owned through a chain of companies.
Attempts to track down Mr Barclay were not easy, however, as Investec previously said he “had been actively avoiding service since November 2023”.
The bank said its private investigators had found that he “regularly moves addresses – apparently for tax reasons”.
Alongside his older half-brothers, Aidan and Howard, Alistair Barclay forms a trio that controls the bulk of the family’s business interests via an offshore trust. This includes The Telegraph, The Spectator, and online retailer Very.
They are the current owners of The Telegraph, but have no control over it.
RedBird IMI acquired the option to take ownership last year but was blocked by the Government from doing so over press freedom fears. It is now running an auction of the business.
Mr Barclay’s lawyers were contacted for comment.