Barclay brothers hit with HSBC bankruptcy petition

The Barclay brothers are facing the threat of bankruptcy as HSBC seeks to recover more than £140m from the pair.

The bank filed a bankruptcy petition against Aidan Barclay, 69, and Howard Barclay, 66, in the High Court just days before Christmas as it seeks to recover money owed by their failed parcel delivery venture.

The decision to pursue the siblings personally marks an escalation of efforts by creditors to retrieve debts as the Barclays’ business empire unravels. The ongoing collapse was triggered by Lloyds Bank’s decision to seize The Telegraph and The Spectator from the Barclay family in 2023 over unpaid debts.

At the height of their powers, the Barclay family had amassed a vast collection of business interests spanning media, hotels, retail, property and logistics.

However, their dealmaking relied heavily on debt and the family have been forced to surrender control of the majority of their assets after a succession of lenders caught up with them.

HSBC is seeking to minimise its losses from the collapse of Logistics Group in 2024. It was the parent company of Yodel and Arrow XL, two parcel delivery businesses.

The bank has managed to recoup just £1.1m of the £143.5m it was owed when Logistics Group was forced to call in the administrators – equivalent to just 0.78p in the pound – according to a report by insolvency practitioners Teneo filed at Companies House.

It is thought the HSBC proceedings have no bearing on The Telegraph because the Barclays no longer have an economic interest in the newspaper.

The Barclay family sold their interest in the newspaper to RedBird IMI, which is majority-funded by the UAE.

A plan to take control of The Telegraph ultimately failed after the Government introduced new laws banning state ownership of UK newspapers.

The Gulf backers of that deal are now also pursuing the Barclays after helping the family to pay off debts to Lloyds Banking Group in 2023.

International Media Investments, which provided funds to RedBird IMI, seized control of the Barclays’ property empire, Trenport Property Holdings, last month.

Meanwhile, The Daily Mail has submitted a £500m bid to buy The Telegraph, which is currently being reviewed by Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary.

Further debt pressures led to the Barclay family giving up Yodel in 2024, which it sold for £1. The Barclays also sold off The Spectator magazine’s headquarters to a Bavarian rubber glove tycoon and parted with their prized super-yacht the Lady Beatrice, which was named after the brothers’ late mother.

The Barclays have also been forced to relinquish ownership of Very Group, the online retailer, which owns the Littlewoods brand.

US private equity firm Carlyle took over the company – regarded as the jewel in crown of the Barclays’ sprawling empire – in November, having kept the business afloat over the past year with a series of high-interest loans.

Very was formed 20 years ago through the merger of Littlewoods and Shop Direct, overseen by Aidan and Howard’s late father Sir David Barclay and his twin brother Sir Frederick.

The unwinding of the family’s business interests has prompted questions about their stewardship.

The Telegraph revealed a £278m black hole in its finances in 2024, as a result of loans extracted by the Barclays, which are regarded as unrecoverable.

The sum, recorded as a “provision” in accounts for 2023, pushed The Telegraph to a record loss of £245m that year.

Attempts to trace the missing money via a network of companies controlled by the Barclay family have been unsuccessful.

Specialists from HMRC and the National Crime Agency, which acts as an information clearing house for financial authorities including the Serious Fraud Office, have been in contact with the company and its advisers.

It has not been disclosed if investigations have been launched.

Under the Barclays, The Telegraph was also accused of suppressing negative stories about HSBC. Peter Oborne resigned as the paper’s chief political commentator in 2015, saying his own investigations into the bank had been rejected and claiming there had been a “collapse in standards” since Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay bought the paper in 2004.

The Barclays and HSBC declined to comment.

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