Robert Tchenguiz and Abu Dhabi investment fund Aabar are pushing for Glenn Maud to be declared bankrupt after winning their latest skirmish in the battle to take control of Santander’s €2.7bn (£1.9bn) Madrid headquarters.
A judge ruled this week that Maud was liable to Tchenguiz’ Edgeworth Capital and Aabar Block for €40m (£28m) 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 say they are now owed a total of £66m by Maud and claim he has personal debts totalling £171m. They have asked a judge 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 has argued that the bankruptcy order 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.
Other Maud creditors do not support the request for a bankruptcy order.
The outcome of the bankruptcy hearing is imminent and could be as early as next week.
In a separate hearing this week, a judge ruled in Maud’s favour that there is ground to hear a dispute as to whether Aabar had previously agreed to sell down its position of the junior loan to Maud.
