THE BARCLAY brothers, who own the Telegraph Media Group in Britain, are believed to have teamed up with the Qatari sovereign wealth fund as they attempt to take control of the Maybourne Hotels group, which owns the luxury Claridge’s, Berkeley and Connaught hotels in London.
The hotel group was acquired by Irish financier Derek Quinlan, developer Paddy McKillen, Kyran McLaughlin of Davy Stockbrokers and a number of other investors for €1.1 billion in 2004.
The Qataris are expected to provide mezzanine finance as part of the takeover bid by David and Frederick Barclay.
The deal is still subject to approval by the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), which has a £650 million loan to the group.
The asset agency declined to comment yesterday.
The loan was initially given by Anglo Irish Bank and was transferred to Nama without any discount.
It will be repaid in full when the group is sold.
The Barclays, who own the Ritz hotel, already directly own about 28 per cent of the Maybourne group after buying stakes from the Green family and Mr McLaughlin.
But they effectively control more that 55 per cent when debt from Derek Quinlan is taken into account.
However, Mr Quinlan cannot sell his shares to them without Nama’s approval.
Mr McKillen, who has lodged legal challenges to Nama, is understood to want to retain some of his investment in the group.
The exact amount is still under discussion.
Businessman Robert Tchenguiz, who was questioned by the Serious Fraud Office in London earlier this month for his links with collapsed Icelandic bank Kaupthing, has backing from the Abu Dhabi royal family, and is still interested in the group.
It is understood that he has until Monday evening to launch a final counter offer to that of the Barclays.
Mr Tchenguiz and the Abu Dhabi royal family can take control of debt related to 22 per cent of the equity in Maybourne through an option to acquire a loan from Bank of Scotland to Quinlan, which can then be converted into shares.
Other bids for the group are said to have come from Malaysian, Chinese and Swedish wealth funds.