Lloyds is chasing developers behind a £90m regeneration project in Slough, Berkshire, for the return of a multi-million-pound loan.
The bank claims it is owed as much as £50m by Crowborough Properties and its principals Sanjiv and Deepak Kaushal on the Buckingham Gateway scheme.
Lloyds, which lent on earlier phases, pulled its funding for the third and largest phase – Buckingham Gateway – after a prelet agreement fell away.
The scheme was originally planned to include a 140-bedroom hotel, 100,000 sq ft of offices, anchored by Slough council, 80,000 sq ft of shops and a basement car park.
Lloyds claims a prelet was a condition of its agreement to provide construction finance. When this failed to materialise, and following independent valuations, which found that income from the car park would not cover interest payments on the loan, Lloyds cancelled its deal.
It now wants a declaration from the high court that it is owed £21.9m by Crowborough, £2.8m by the Kaushals and that £25.8m is due in guarantees.
Receivers have been appointed.
Crowborough is vigorously defending Lloyds’ claim. The Kaushals deny they are indebted to the bank and claim that it was not entitled to appoint receivers. The pair claim the bank has breached a 2009 contract in which it agreed to fund the town centre regeneration through to completion.
