Yahoo Finance Amanda Staveley loses High Court battle with Barclays
A businesswoman who sued Barclays for hundreds of millions of pounds has lost a High Court battle.
Amanda Staveley, 47, made complaints about the behaviour of Barclays’ bosses when negotiating investment deals during the 2008 financial crisis.
She said PCP Capital Partners, a private equity firm she runs, would have invested on “vastly better terms” but for Barclays’ “false representations”.
The bank disputed her allegations and said the claim should be dismissed.
A High Court judge ruled against her on Friday.
Mr Justice Waksman heard evidence at a trial in London during the summer of 2020.
Ms Staveley said bank bosses agreed to provide an unsecured £2 billion loan to Qatari investors, but alleged that the loan was “concealed” from the market, shareholders and PCP Capital Partners.
She said PCP was induced to invest on “manifestly worse terms” than Qatari investors.
Lawyers representing PCP told the judge that an initial damages claim was for a sum between £1.6 billion and £400 million.
By the end of the trial PCP was arguing for amounts ranging between around £830 million and around £600 million.
Lawyers representing bank bosses criticised Ms Staveley, who says PCP introduced Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour – a member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi – to Barclays as an investor, during the trial.
Jeffery Onions QC, who led Barclays’ legal team, told Mr Justice Waksman that she had a “tendency to exaggerate” when giving evidence.
He said her evidence had been “peppered with hyperbole” and in some respects was “plainly dishonest”.
Lawyers representing PCP, and Ms Staveley, said the claim should succeed.
Joe Smouha QC, who led PCP’s legal team, said the building blocks of the claim were “straightforward”.
He said PCP had been “induced” to make subscriptions on the basis of “representations” by Barclays which were “false”.
