Robert Tchenguiz was last night forced to sell his 25% stake in the
Kaupthing, the Icelandic bank which was holding Tchenguiz’s shares as collateral, called back its loan to the property tycoon. Tchenguiz was unable to repay the loan and subsequently forced to liquidate his position.
The buyer of the stake is unknown but reports suggest it was sold to a strategic buyer.
Shares in M&B reached a 52-week low today at 146.25p. The pub group’s shares are down 74% over the past 12 months, and have tumbled 25% in the past week.
Tchenguiz went into a joint venture with M&B last year in a bid to squeeze more value from its property portfolio. The arrangement led to M&B closing its hedges linked to the jv resulting in a pre-tax loss of £391m for the company.
In May, he appointed two non-executive directors from his R20 business to M&B.
Reports claim that Tchenguiz still retains an economic interest of 4.8 % in M&B through contracts for differences.
Tchenguiz still holds a considerable stake in Sainsbury’s.
