Introduction:                                                                       (last updated - 22st June 2009)

We are researching and compiling a Business Profile on The Barclay Brothers and business interests initiating from the 1950's - 2009.

This Business Profile of the Barclay Brothers titled "Tax What Tax" to be published in November 2009.

To ensure we research and collate information with absolute accuracy, we are inviting anyone who has had dealings with the Barclay Brothers in a business capacity to kindly supply us with information / documents of reference and relevance that would be worthy to be included.

Who are the advisors / investment bankers that court The Barclay Brothers with such attractive investment opportunities. We would welcome a list of key contacts that The Barclay Brothers have used past and present that have made them billionaires.

We want to hear from anyone who has had direct business dealings with Sir David Barclay, Sir Frederick Barclay, Howard Barclay and Aidan Barclay in a business or financial capacity, including Senior Civil Servants, Politicians and Offshore Advisors since the 1950's to the present day.

We also want to hear from Journalists and Reporters from the UK, Europe, USA, Asia (especially Japan), Africa and the Middle East who may have some interesting stories to tell since the 1950's - 2009.

We want to hear from former Directors / Ex-Employees of Businesses that the Barclay Brothers have acquired from them since the late 1950's to 2009.

We need to carefully research all their holding companies. We need a list of all their companies globally including which jurisdictions they are registered especially those that are registered offshore since the 1950's - 2009.

Below is a small list of The Barclay Brothers Business Interests / Dealings which are already known and in the public domain in one form or another.

The Barclay Brothers Brief Business Summary:

(Some of the following briefs may or may/not be accurate. Accordingly, the following should only be considered as possible reference and we would welcome any amendments).

In the late 1950's Younger brother Howard & Frederick Barclay operated a Corner Shop in Kensington as a Confectioners & Tobacconists.

1960 Younger brother Howard & Frederick Barclay now Sir Frederick Barclay were made Bankrupt.

1960's David & Frederick Barclay (Painters & Decorators)

1960's Frederick Barclay may have been a partner of sorts in a London Residential Lettings Agency. We want to know who Frederick Barclay's other Partners were in this firm or associates, name of the company and location.

In the 1960's we believe David Barclay and his wife Zoe started Hillgate Estate Agents. David Barclay may have been involved in other agencies. Can anyone help us in supplying further details on this?

The Barclay Brothers started to purchase run-down boarding houses for refurbishment. We would like to hear from anyone that has more info on this. Where these were situated, whom they purchased them from?

In 1967 we believe Akiko Kuzasaka was a partner of a Japanese Restaurant. Akiko & Ranapool Night Club and a hostess Bar called Mimosa all based in London. Akiko is the sister of Hiroko, Sir Frederick Barclay's wife. We want to know if Hiroko was also a partner with her sister in these businesses. In 1978 Sir Frederick married Hiroko.

The Kuzasaka are a very wealthy Japanese Family. We would like to know more information on this family, how they made their wealth.

The sister of Hiroko Barclay, Akiko Kuzasaka married Tadayoshi Tazaki who became a co-founder of a business with Sir Frederick Barclay.

The Crown Agents Scandal:

1968 The Barclay Brothers formed Barclays Hotels Group, jointly owned by The Barclay Brothers and we believe Mr Henry Kaye, a senior partner of law firm Davies Arnold & Cooper, now called (Davies Arnold Cooper).  Around 1964-5, Davies Arnold & Cooper became the property lawyers of The Crown Agents.

The Barclay Brothers then formed a subsidiary company called Highgrange Investments Limited, Jack Walker another partner/lawyer at Davies Arnold & Cooper we believe was a director too.

1968 - 1974 The Barclay Brothers borrowed a substantial amount of money from The Crown Agents totalling £9.5 Million.

1968 – The Barclay Brothers initially borrowed £0.3 Million – from the Crown Agents, rising to £0.4 Million in 1969 and in 2000, this rose to £2 Million.

1970 we believe The Barclay Brothers put forward a scheme to Jack Walker, which pans out something like this:

The Barclay Brothers wanted to purchase a prime London Hotel, which we believe it to be The Londonderry in Park Lane for £2.5 Million. The hotel was overvalued but the proposed profits forecast submitted by The Barclay Brothers and a possible future public offering was enough for The Crown Agents to consider the proposal. The Barclay Brothers earlier instructed a stockbroking firm called J & A Scrimgeour to project a future flotation of the group. J & A Scrimgeour regarded this as a “High Risk” venture and later advised The Crown Agents to instruct a firm of Accountants first to thoroughly go through the books and figures. Records show that a Mr Towse of The Crown Agents instructed a firm of accountants called Cooper Brothers to carry out this function comprehensively. However, The Barclay Brothers requested to exclude their own calculations and projected profit forecasts and the assumptions underlying them from the accountants report.  For some reason, Mr D. Johns, a senior executive officer at The Crown Agents overruled this and suggested a “limited report” was only necessary. A Bank would request it!  Why would a senior executive officer of The Crown Agents not want to see a comprehensive report?

More to the point, the profit forecasts were not achieved. The Barclay Brothers new this and that is why they did not want Cooper Brothers to go through their own profit forecasts. Furthermore, The Barclay Brothers did not take the company public – surprise, surprise !

Ironically, The Crown Agents continued to lend to The Barclay Brothers.

1971 – The Barclay Brothers borrowings increased to £3.7 Million from the Crown Agents

It is also reported The Barclay Brothers purchased several hotels from British Rail. Anyone with more specific details on these purchases would be helpful. We believe they financed these via the funding they received from The Crown Agents. The Barclay Brothers Other London hotels which we assume were part of the British Rail acquisitions include: Grosvenor Hotel in Victoria and the Charing Cross Hotel.

1972 The Barclay Brothers increased their borrowings to £4.6 Million from The Crown Agents and in 1973 they almost doubled their borrowings to £8 Million from The Crown Agents.

In 1974 The Barclay Brothers increased they borrowings further from The Crown Agents to £9.5 Million. It was shortly after this period that this gravy train of Tax Payers Money ran out.

Yes:

The Barclay Brothers defaulted on their loan agreements with The Crown Agents. It is believed to be around  £4.7 Million (nearly £40 Million at today’s valuation).

The middle-man, yes the lawyer, Jack Walker, who acted for both The Crown Agents and The Barclay Brothers later moved to Colorado U.S.A. enjoying his fruits of labour.

In the 1970’s, a committee was set-up to investigate the finances of The Crown Agents and its reckless lending and chaired by His Honour Judge E.S. Fay Q.C.. The report highlighted internal recruitment of key civil service personnel to be totally incompetent and unqualified to undertake the duties required by them and of course serious corruption. It has been reported that The Barclay Brothers refused to cooperate with this inquiry. They were able to do this because The Crown Agents then, was not a company, the inquiry as such, had no compulsory powers conferred upon their inspectors under the act to force them to cooperate with the report. There were a number of others that did not comply including two facing trial on corruption charges and one solicitor.

The Serious Fraud Office should have investigated the Crown Agents, but we are not sure whether this actually existed at the time. Our personal view on this was that to many high-ranking civil servants were involved.

It is fair to say, The Barclay Brothers were not the only ones involved in The Crown Agents scandal. However, their lawyers keep rambling on regarding The Barclay Brothers integrity?

INTEGRITY is when you pay back what you borrowed.  This was public money, Tax-Payers Money.

We are currently investigating the financing of each hotel in-depth that The Barclay Brothers purchased between, 1968 – 1974. 

1975 The Barclays Acquired The Howard Hotel in London.

1979 The Barclay Brothers sold The Londonderry Hotel for around £9 Million. Almost the total amount The Barclay Brothers borrowed from The Crown Agents ?

1979 The Barclay Brothers acquired The Mirabeau Hotel in Monaco.

1983 The Barclay Brothers acquired the Ellerman Group founded by John Ellerman for around £45 Million, a trading company that owned a shipping fleet, Breweries and Travel Interests. We are looking for detailed information on this purchase.

We would like to hear from any Ex - Investment Banker 1983/84 from Morgan Grenfell & Co who had dealings with both The Barclay Brothers and Esther Ellerman.

We also want to hear from anyone who was involved with Ellerman Shipping between 1983 - 1985. What type of cargo was transported? We also want to know the jurisdictions this cargo went too.

We would also like to hear from anyone, friend / relation to Esther Ellerman (Monaco Based).

1984 It is reported that The Barclay Brothers again acquired The Londonderry Hotel for £18 Million. It is also reported that they sold Great Western Hotel in London to help finance The Londonderry purchase?

1985 The Barclays sold the Shipping unit via a management buyout. We want to know who was involved in this transaction. Did The Barclays help finance the management buyout? If not, who were the Investment Bankers?. How much did The Barclays receive for this? We know the management of the buy-out later sold this to Trafalgar House.

1985 it is alleged that the Barclays donated £500,000 to London Zoo. In thanks to the Barclays, London Zoo's Trustees named the central plaza "Barclay Court". Apparently, Lord (Alistair) McAlpine and Lord Peyton were fundraising on behalf of London Zoo. Lord McAlpine and Lord Peyton became trustees of The Barclay Foundation. We are interested in knowing more about who is receiving donations from The Barclay Foundation, especially to Political Parties or Establishment Organisations if any.

1985, It is reported that The Barclays purchased Gulf Resources & Chemical Corp in the USA. This is based in Boston. We want to know whom they purchased this from and how they financed it.

1986 The Barclays were involved with a hostile takeover of Imperial Continental Gas, they failed on this occasion but still made a profit on the shares exceeding £25 Million. It was reported at the time that the Barclay Brothers were tarnished as asset raiders. We would very much like to know more on this?

1987 The Barclay Brothers established Barclay Luncheon Vouchers (Baakuree Vauchaazu) in Japan. (We are interested in hearing from anyone who has information / relevant documents of interest on two Japanese Co-Directors in the business:

1. Mr Tadayoshi Tazaki - Co-Director of Barclay Luncheon Vouchers – Mr Tadayoshi Tazaki was also Managing Director of Rudolf Wolff KK  between  1988 – 1996 (commodities brokerage), which was involved in the Hamanaka/Sumitomo Copper Scandal in 1996 and cost Sumitomo Corporation nearly £1.5 Billion in losses. After an investigation by the Securities & Futures Authority in 2000 Mr Tadayoshi Tazaki was declared not fit and proper to be registered in any capacity with the Securities & Futures Authority and personally fined £45,000 plus £5,000 towards costs for his part. Mr Tazaki owns several business in the UK including Tazaki Foods, JAC Recruitment Group and JAC Strattons.
2. We also understand two further directors of Rudolf Wolff KK were also directors of Barclay Luncheon Vouchers. Furthermore, it is also claimed both companies operated from the same building in Japan.
3. The late Mr Akira Ono was a Co-Director of Barclay Luncheon Vouchers - A former Japanese Government Minister plagued by a number of scandals.

1988 The Barclays sold the Travel Business to Baldwin's for just under £4 Million?

1988 The Barclays acquired Gotaas-Larsen for around £350 Million a Shipping Company (Oil and Gas Transporters), (Bermuda Based) but operated via Monaco. We want to know whom they purchased this from and how they financed it. We also want to know the type of cargo transported and to which jurisdictions.

1989 The Barclays sold Ellerman's Breweries and Taverns for just over £235 Million. Any further information on this transaction would be helpful. For example, did The Barclays undertake any major refurbishments or improve the operation of both The Taverns and Breweries whilst they owned them?

1992 The Barclay Brothers acquired The European newspaper.
We want to know if The Barclay Brothers had entered into any negotiations with the late Robert Maxwell before he died for the European Newspaper?
We want to know if The Barclay Brothers had any direct business dealings with the late Robert Maxwell?

1993 The Barclay Brothers acquired Brecqhou formally called “Ile des Marchands”, an island 70 metres from Sark in the Channel Islands for just over £2 Million. They commissioned Quinlan Terry to design a mock gothic style castle. How much did this cost to construct?

1994 The Barclay Brothers acquired the Automotive Financial Group (Nissan UK Retail) for £200 Million from the late Mr Octav Botnar who died in 1998. In 1991, over 120 Tax Inspectors raided the offices of Mr Octav Botnar over allegations that he defrauded the Inland Revenue of more than £100 Million+ which was claimed to have been laundered in Banks in Switzerland. Two former colleagues were jailed. However, Mr Octav Botnar medical advisors claimed he was not well enough to attend a full trial and eventually the Inland Revenue ceased criminal proceedings. Mr Botnar was a substantial donor to the Conservative Party but a non-resident of the UK for Tax Avoidance. He had homes in Switzerland and Monaco. In addition to funding the Conservative Party, he also donated to UK Charities but not the UK Taxman? The late Mr Octav Botnar also had several long-spells in prison.

1995 The Barclay Brothers acquired the Scottish national newspaper The Scotsman for around £85M - £90 Million from The Thomson Group and installed Aidan Barclay as Chairman. They also disposed of property assets from the purchase.

1995 The Barclay Brothers acquired The Ritz Hotel in London for between £75M to £80 Million from Trafalgar House. How did they finance this acquisition.

The Ritz Casino would need a gaming licence. We know the British Gaming Board carry out stringent vetting? We want to know the names of all those listed on the gaming licence to the Ritz Casino. Can anyone help? We assume Aidan is one of them?

1997, The Barclays sold Gotaas-Larsen to Osprey Maritime via cash / shares in Osprey. We want to know the exact details of how Osprey financed this and what exactly did The Barclay get from this?

1998, It is reported that Osprey's then chairman defaulted on a loan from The Barclay Brothers which resulted in him forfeited his share in Osprey and accordingly increased The Barclays stake to near 24% in Osprey? Is this correct?

1998 The Barclays closed down The European Newspaper after no interest from other newspaper proprietors. It is reputed they lost in excess of £60 Million+ Is this correct?

1998 The Barclays re-launched The Sunday Business Newspaper?

1998 both brothers were awarded honorary degrees from Glasgow University?

1999 The Barclay Brothers & Boots plc joint venture set up handbag.com?

2000 Both David & Frederick were knighted for their charity work (donations).

2000 The Barclays sold The Howard Hotel to MWB Group Holdings for around £38 Million.

2000 The Barclay Brothers set-up a venture capital company in Bermuda called TecCapital Limited (investing in wireless communications) with its holding company called Oakpoint Holdings listed in the British Virgin Islands.

2000 The Barclays failed to acquire The Daily Express Newspaper Group. Richard Desmond won that battle. However, The Barclay Brothers must have forgiven Desmond as they became partners in a printing press company ! Still Friends ?

2001 Tec Capital with 3i invest around £10 Million in NRTA Limited (Internet Infrastructure Company).

The Barclay Brothers helped finance Philip Green’s purchase of undervalued Sears plc for just under £550 Million. With some asset stripping and remodelling of the business, it is reported they recouped £500 Million in the 1st year of this acquisition? Very interested to learn more about this and any others business transactions between these two families. We know by constant media reports they are both based in Monaco.

2002 The Barclays acquired Littlewoods for £750 Million from the Moores Family. When they restructured this group, it is reported the Barclays sacked hundreds of staff. (Sounds like the Sark Lark of December 2008) HBOS took a 5% stake in LW Investments.

2003 The Barclay Brothers acquire GUS plc for just under £600 Million?

2004 The Barclay Brothers acquired The Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph from Hollinger International. This also included The Spectator Magazine.

It is suggested that Sir Frederick Barclay said at a court hearing in Delaware USA in 2004 that shortly after Lord (Conrad) Black acquired The Daily Telegraph back in 1986, his brother, David Barclay engaged in preliminary talks with Black in relation to a possible purchase but Black declined. However, the tables turned against Black in 2004 in the Barclays favour.

Judge Leo Strine in Delaware USA was quoted “The Barclay’s knew that they were concealing extremely important information he declared. They were aware of Black’s obligations to Hollinger International and his infidelity, yet remained silent while he misled the international board in public filings in the USA and Canada, the Barclay’s have released information that is of questionable accuracy”.
Judge Leo Strine, concluded “It is difficult for me to give as much credit to the Barclay’s factual arguments as they would like”.

It is reported that they also sacked 100 Journalists from the group. (The Barclay Brothers love sacking people). We do not think they reduced the price of the Daily Telegraph paper though?

Strange, but when you now read The Daily Telegraph, one could easily get confused in thinking one is reading The Daily Mail at The Daily Telegraph price?

It is reported that The Barclay Brothers in January 2004 negotiated with Lord (Conrad) Black to acquire Hollinger Inc on the cheap for around USD $320 Million but shareholders of Hollinger International initiated court proceedings to prevent the deal going through. We want to hear from anyone who has information, letters or documents on these earlier negotiations and meetings with Black?

It is reported that The Barclays eventually had to pay around USD $1.2 Billion partly financed by HBOS?

The Barclays "Press Acquisitions Limited" owns The Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph. The Barclays "Press Holdings" owns The Spectator, Apollo Magazine and Business.

2005 The Barclay Brothers via “Arndale Properties” sold 280,000 sq ft office and warehouse space at Universal House, Manchester for £10 Million to Frogmore Northern.

2005 year ending, The Telegraph Group annual sales was £322 Million.

2005 Ellerman Investments had a gross turnover exceeding £67 Million with £70 Million of net assets.

2006 they sold The Scotsman newspaper for around £160 Million to Johnston Press Holdings.

2006 year end, The Telegraph Group’s annual sales was £341 Million with an operation profit £36.5 Million.

2006 The Telegraph Group employs just over 1,000.

2006 The Barclay Brothers acquire The Cavendish Hotel.

2006 The Barclay Brothers sold Handbag Group for around £22 Million to The National Magazine Company.

2006 The Rt.Hon David Cameron (opposition leader) took a complementary helicopter flight offered by Aidan Barclay to meet with Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay at their mock castle at Brecqhou, Channel Islands.

LORD Black was convicted in 2007 of Mail and Wire Fraud and Obstruction of Justice and sent to prison for over 6 years.

2007 The Barclay Brothers purchase a 140 acre industrial site in Ryton, nr Coventry for £60 Million via Trenport Investments.

2007 The Barclay Brothers own just under 10% of the shares in InterContinental Hotels Group.

2007 The Barclay Brothers sold the Daily Telegraph’s headquarters in Victoria, London in the region of £250 Million to a Greek Property Group headed by Achilleas Kallakis who is reported to be under investigation with the Serious Fraud Office.
2007 Year ending, Ellerman Investments reported a pre-tax loss of over £25 Million and £8.7 Million the year before. Turnover was up from £63.8 Million to £80.3 Million.

2007 The Barclay Foundation donated £11 Million to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.

2008 became Shop Direct Group and includes Abound, Choice, Empire Stores, Great Universal, Kay's and Marshall Ward. They also own both Shop Direct Financial Services and Home Delivery Network

2008 Sark was the last remaining feudal island in Europe. The Barclay Brothers instigated the elections on Sark (majority of the residents opposed them). The results were just deserts for The Barclay Brothers. Only two of their nine preferred candidates were successfully elected. The Barclay Brothers office manager in Sark, Mr Kevin Delaney lost his seat in the new Chief Pleas Office.

2008 December 12th, Because The Barclay Brothers chosen candidates were not elected, The Barclay Brothers withdraw their £5 Million annual investment in Sark, Channel Islands and to further demonstrate their brut force, they made redundant 100 people thirteen days before Christmas Day and closed down all their hotels and businesses owned by The Barclay Brothers and immediately evicted the commercial tenants who rented their shops. Even by the standards of some rich and powerful corporate barons, this was disgusting despicable behaviour. There are approximately 580 people residents living on Sark.

2009 It now appears things have settled down in Sark, with some shops now starting to re-open. However, it is still unclear what The Barclay Brothers long-term intentions are with regards to investment in Sark.

It is reported that The Barclay Brothers own approximately 12% of Sark in the Channel Islands. We are interested in hearing from current and former Chief Pleas and other residents of Sark regarding the Barclay Brothers interests and business dealings with residents.

The Barclay Brothers representatives continually state the Barclay Brothers invest £5 Million per annum into Sark. Yet it has been widely reported that Seigneur Michael Beaumont has stated that The Barclay Brothers have actually cost the island money, mainly in legal disputes / costs.

2009 The Barclay Brothers acquire Ladybird and the UK brand name of Woolworths.

We know there will be numerous other business interests they own or once owned globally that are not listed above. If you can help in expanding this list, we would like to hear from you.

The late Lord (John) Peyton was Chairman / Trustee to The Barclay Foundation had claimed over £15 Million of charitable donations were made from the foundation, we want to know which organisations from The Barclay Foundation received funding.

We believe the majority of the Barclay's holdings are based in Bermuda, BVI and Jersey. International Companies registered in Bermuda and the BVI do not pay Corporate Taxes and are subject to nominal discloser due to their companies being privately held.

We want to hear from Investment Bankers who have had dealings with the Barclay Brothers especially those who once worked for HBOS, Allied Arab Bank and UBS.

We are very interested in knowing more about His Excellency Mohammed Mahdi al-Tajir of Dubai and the business / finance dealings that he had with The Barclay Brothers.

We want a list of Names and Addresses of the Business Associates and Co-Directors of all The Barclay Brothers businesses that they have owned since the 1950's - 2009.

As Jermyn Brooks of Transparency International once quoted, "A company privately owned, if large, it has in good practice, if not in law, obligations to be transparent".

We can imagine both Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay sitting in-front of an open fireplace at their mock castle on Brecqhou, each stroking a white pussy cat and planning their next major acquisition.

Finally, we are now 24% into our research of The Barclay Brothers. If anyone, be it, past of present directors or employees of The Barclay Brothers Companies since 1958 - 2009 both from the UK-Channel Islands, USA, BVI, Bermuda, Europe and Japan and you have information on any assets that are not listed above, we would very much like to hear from you. Also, we would like to hear from external intermediary advisors, investment bankers, lawyers, accountants and real estate professionals.

The above is a brief outline only, which will be up-dated every two months. The full version (comprehensive – in-depth and balanced) will be published in November 2009 (Approximately 230 Pages).