A bankruptcy petition against Glenn Maud has been put back until next year, after he successfully argued that he should be given more time to pay creditors including Robert Tchenguiz and Abu Dhabi investment fund Aabar.
They had pushed for Maud to be declared bankrupt now, after winning their latest skirmish in the battle to take control of Santander’s €2.7bn (£1.9bn) Madrid headquarters.
However, Registrar Briggs found in favour of Maud that the petition should be adjourned. The matter will return to court next April at the earliest.
A judge ruled at the end of November that Maud was liable to Tchenguiz’ Edgeworth Capital and Aabar Block for €40m under a guarantee scheme for the junior loan securing Ciudad Santander, which they bought from RBS in 2010.
RBS originally issued the loan to help finance Maud and joint venture partner Derek Quinlan’s €1.9bn purchase of the property in 2008.
The creditors argued at a hearing earlier this month that they are now owed a total of £66m by Maud and claim he has personal debts totalling £171m. They asked to make a bankruptcy order against him.
If the court were to agree in making the order for that sum it would rank as the second biggest bankruptcy in English legal history, behind Kevin Maxwell’s £406m order in 2011.
Maud argued that the bankruptcy petition should be adjourned until the anticipated sale of the 340-acre Santander campus, which he says should complete in February next year.
He has submitted a proposal backed by a Middle Eastern investor to buy the property, which is in insolvency in Spain. If successful, he said the transaction would return sufficient equity to pay back his creditors.
Aabar, which has already taken control of Quinlan’s 50% stake, has submitted a rival offer to buy the campus.
Both proposals have been rejected by the judge overseeing the liquidation of the asset and all parties are currently awaiting clarification on when the formal bidding process – and right to appeal against it in favour of a restructuring – will begin.
