Tycoon Nick Candy’s £1.5bn penthouse spat
LIFE is an unending roller coaster for the billionaire property tycoon Nick Candy. Within the space of a year, he successfully fought a £132 million legal battle against former friend Mark Holyoake and enjoyed the infinitely more agreeable experience of being a guest at Princess Eugenie’s wedding.
Now, I can disclose that Candy, who is married to former pop star and Neighbours actress Holly Valance, has become the subject of an even more extraordinary High Court action.
And this time, he faces a demand for a stupefying £1.5billion, even though the argument is over a building costing less than 10 per cent of that! One of the more outlandish claims is for ‘malicious sabotage’ even though this is not a term recognised in English law.
The claim, brought by company director Michael Brown, concerns
Candy’s £160 million penthouse — the most expensive flat in Britain — at One Hyde Park. The claim also vents at the ‘wanton and indecorous and imbecilic behaviousr’ by a member of the Qatatri royal family. What a hornets’ nest!
‘The deal was for me to arrange the sale of Mr Candy’s penthouse at One Hyde Park, Knightsbridge, London, for the sum of £175million,’ alleges Brown in his claim, who names Nick Candy as the first among a number of defendants. ‘Mr Candy was very concerned with getting this affair sorted after calling me for weeks on end, pleading for help to put arrangements in place which would result in the sale to my clients from the Saudi royal family and the House of Saud.’
Candy took out an £80 million mortgage on the pad last October. It was one of the largest loans ever advanced on a British property.
Nick Candy issues a derisive response to Brown’s action. ‘This claim is pure fiction,’ his spokeswoman tells me. ‘The alleged potential purchaser never visited One Hyde Park or the penthouse.
‘In fact, Mr Brown wrote to Nick Candy in July 2016 to advise that he no longer wished to pursue any potential sale.
‘The property was never sold and Mr Candy maintains that there was no financial loss to the claimant.’
She adds that Candy and his legal team are certain the claim will be thrown out when a ‘strikeout hearing’ is held at the High Court next month.
Watch this space.