Barclays has settled a dispute with the Guardian Care Homes (GCH) group, weeks before the trial of the group’s misrepresentation claims over manipulation of Libor.
In a statement, the bank announced: “In order to support the ongoing viability of Graiseley’s care home business, the parties have agreed to a commercial restructuring of Graiseley’s debt, which reflects the impact of changes in conditions in this sector over the last few years. Graiseley has withdrawn the litigation.”
Last November, the Court of Appeal backed a High Court ruling allowing Graiseley Properties and Graiseley Investments – which owns and runs the 30–strong national chain of Guardian Care Homes – to augment its claims against the bank to include the allegation of “false and fraudulent representation” in relation to Libor.
The amendment in the GCH case followed in the wake of the findings of various regulatory bodies in June 2012 in respect of the bank’s role as a Libor submitting panel bank, for which it received substantial fines.
Flaux J had allowed GCH to amend its case to plead implied representations by Barclays or, in the alternative, implied terms. The implied representations were said to have induced the claimants to enter into the series of loan agreements and related hedging transactions. In the alternative, GCH alleged that similar terms were to be implied into those contracts.
GCH was seeking £37m in damages, claiming that Barclays mis–sold it £70m in interest rate swaps to refinance two loans in 2007. The trial had been scheduled to begin this month and last for five to six weeks.
Graiseley Properties Ltd and others v Barclays Bank plc 8 April 2014
