THE NATIONAL Asset Management Agency was told in January 2011 that Sir David Barclay had loaned one of its debtors, Derek Quinlan, €500,000 to keep his family “going financially”.
Mr Quinlan is one of the State loan agency’s biggest debtors.
Court filings submitted in the High Court in London state that Mr Quinlan’s financial adviser told Nama that Sir David had asked that he and his brother be given an opportunity to match any offer he might receive for his 35 per cent stake in the Maybourne hotels.
The evidence was submitted by businessman Paddy McKillen’s side in his case against the Barclay brothers, owners of the Ritz hotel in London and the Daily Telegraph, for control of the Claridges, Connaught and Berkeley hotels.
“In October Sir David gave a personal loan to DQ of €500k to keep the family going financially and requested that BB [Barclay brothers] would have an opportunity to match any offer Derek Quinlan might receive in the future for his shares if he were ever selling,” Mr Quinlan’s adviser Gerry Murphy wrote in an email to Nama dated January 2011.
“This was a gentleman’s agreement with no documentation. The loan which Derek received from Sir David was declared at the time to Paul Hennigan in Nama.”
The brothers have disputed that funds provided to Mr Quinlan were to create an opportunity to buy his shares but were given in return for Mr Quinlan’s donation of a property in Chelsea to Sir Frederick’s charity in 2006 and 2007.
Prior to the October 2010 transaction, Mr Quinlan had telephoned Sir David Barclay to ask him for a loan to help him pay a pressing tax bill in Switzerland.
He agreed to assist Mr Quinlan and sent the money to him without asking for anything in return even informally, according to Mr Quinlan’s evidence in the legal action.
When the two men met a week later, Sir David said he would like to know if Mr Quinlan was ever selling his shares in the hotels.
Details were also submitted in evidence in the case that a takeover deal for the hotels involving the Qatari sovereign wealth fund, Al Mirqab, was raised with the late Brian Lenihan when he was minister for finance in February 2011 by the prime minister of Qatar.
Aidan Barclay, son of Sir David, wrote to Mr Lenihan on February 14th, 2011, telling him a deal had been reached between the Barclays, Mr McKillen and Al Mirqab.
Mr Barclay referred to a conversation that the prime minister of Qatar, the father of Sheikh Jassim, the deputy principal of Al Mirqab, had with Mr Lenihan over the course of the previous weekend.
A spokesman for the Department of Finance said that it advised the party in question to contact Nama directly in line with standard practice when such queries are made to the department.
The investment deal bringing Al Mirqab in as an investor in the hotels subsequently fell apart.
