As the property sector’s eternal playboy Vincent Tchenguiz heads off to party at Mipim, he’s been doing a spot of cost-saving at home. It appears that Vincent, whose 130ft yacht Veni Vidi Vici returns to Cannes this year after an abscence in 2010, has allowed Kevin Maxwell to take space in his Park Lane offices.
Now Mr Maxwell’s credit history is — how can we put this? — somewhat chequered. In 1992, he became Britain’s biggest bankrupt with debts of £406.5 million, following the death of his father, media mogul Robert. Twelve years later, he escaped a second bankruptcy only when a mystery backer cleared his debt.
Now Mr Maxwell has resurfaced as the boss of the corporate finance boutique Avenue Partners and is, it seems, helping Mr Tchenguiz out with his office overheads. Despite losing hundreds of millions in the credit crunch, Vincent will be entertaining this week at the champagne-drenched schmooze-fest that is Mipim. We wonder just how far Kevin’s cheque will stretch.
• Amanda Wakeley will give a talk to 150 female Nomura staff tonight to celebrate International Women’s Day. There will even be a fashion show at which the Japanese bank’s employees will model the designer’s latest collection — perhaps not exactly what Lord Davies had in mind.
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In fairness, Nomura has named Junko Nakagawa as its first female CFO this week.
• Barely a day goes by without talk about the future of Maybourne Hotel Group, with Beijing and sovereign wealth funds from Qatar and Malaysia tipped as possible suitors. At the weekend, there was vague chatter that Robert Tchenguiz (remember him?) and an Abu Dhabi royal had teamed for a tilt at the owner of Claridge’s, the Connaught and the Berkeley.
But the propagators of these rumours appear to have seriously underestimated the Barclay brothers. It appears The Daily Telegraph’s owners have quietly snapped up a 3 per cent stake from Kyran McLaughlin, the wealthy Irish stockbroker, taking their equity stake in Maybourne to 28 per cent. They also own debt that gives them an option over a further 21.6 per cent, pushing their effective stake to just shy of 50 per cent. That blocking stake means the future of three of London’s plushest hotels lies firmly in the hands of the reclusive twins.
In the blue corner: William Stobart
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William Stobart is passionate about his haulage company’s trucks and trains but apparently not its boardroom meetings, for Stobart lost its last family board member yesterday when William, son of founder Eddie, stepped down. Apolo enthusiast, he will stay on as chief operating officer, concentrating on a day job that these days stretches to airports, ports and even a television show, as well as the traditional roads business.