Telegraph co-owner faces personal bankruptcy threat over debts

A SENIOR member of the Barclay family faces a petition from a leading private bank to declare him personally bankrupt, in the latest legal drama for the owners of The Telegraph.

According to High Court documents, Alistair Barclay, 34, is alleged to be in default on £946,754 of borrowing from Investec, which only offers bank accounts to individuals with net wealth of more than £3m.

Mr Barclay, the youngest of Sir David Barclay’s four sons, failed to make agreed monthly repayments of £200,000 from August onwards, the bank claims. It alleges that he triggered a further default on the debt by failing to refinance separate personal borrowing of £22.5m from Deutsche Bank. The German lender declined to comment. Investec is seeking to have Mr Barclay declared bankrupt at a High Court hearing scheduled for this month.

According to the petition, Mr Barclay, co-founder of the online estate agent Yopa and a motor racing driver, was required to fully repay the borrowing by a final deadline in November.

Investec then twice attempted to serve a statutory demand on him at his address in Chester Square, Belgravia, before posting it through the letterbox. The bank told the High Court that it also emailed Mr Barclay and his accountant, rang his personal number twice and left a voicemail. Investec filed the petition to bankrupt him in late December.

Mr Barclay is selling off assets in an apparent attempt to raise funds. The Chester Square property, a seven-bedroom, 5,800 sq ft townhouse with its own lift, is currently being marketed by Knight Frank at £14.9m. Mr Barclay is also reported to have held conversations about the sale of land on Sark in the Channel Islands.

Last night a spokesman for the Barclay family said: “This is a personal matter that has no effect on and is completely unrelated to the wider family businesses.”

Following the death of their father in 2021, alongside his much older half-brothers Aidan and Howard, Alistair is part of a trio who control the majority of the Barclay family’s business interests via an offshore trust. As well as The Telegraph and The Spectator magazine they own the online retailer Very and parcel delivery provider Yodel.

The remaining quarter share in the trust is held by Amanda Barclay, daughter of Sir David’s twin Sir Frederick. Alistair previously came to prominence as part of the bitter split in the family which has opened up in recent years.

In a High Court case in 2020 he was accused of installing a bugging device in a private area of the Ritz hotel, which the family owned and was used by Sir Frederick for business meetings. The dispute, which centred on the sale of the Ritz to Qatari investors, was settled out of court. It came alongside demands from lenders for the repayment of heavy debts which had been built up by the family and some of their businesses. Lloyds Banking Group, unsatisfied its share of the proceeds from the sale of the Ritz, began manoeuvres that ultimately led to the seizure of The Telegraph.

In June last year the bank sent in receivers and ousted Aidan and Howard Barclay from The Telegraph board. Alistair is not involved in the day-today running of the family’s main business interests.

The Barclay family were ultimately able to repay their debt to Lloyds with new borrowing mostly provided by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the vice-president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Redbird IMI, a fund 75pc backed by the sheikh, aims to take control of The Telegraph by converting £600m of the debt into ownership. The remaining £560m is secured against

Very and property interests. The complex transaction meant the Barclay family regained ownership of The Telegraph. They are barred by law from exercising any control while the UAE-backed takeover is examined by regulators as a potential threat to press freedom, however.

Alistair’s financial troubles cast further light on the financial pressures faced by the Barclay family. Asset sales are continuing. In December they sold The Spectator’s headquarters in Westminster to the next-door neighbour, a Bavarian rubber glove tycoon. A family yacht is also on the market.

Aidan Barclay told the High Court last year, as part of 89-year-old Sir Frederick’s divorce battle, that “things have been quite difficult” for the family and their businesses.

Investec was contacted for comment.