<
p>Deutsche Bank will reclaim a £50 million loan forwarded to a Knightsbridge developer after successfully claiming that the family-based firm breached its loan agreement.
Following a High Court hearing, Mr Justice Hamblen rejected a number of defences put forward by companies owned by the family of Pakistan’s former privitisation minister, Senator Waqar Ahmed Kahn, and his father, former Senator Gulzar Ahmed Kahn.
The bank will now look to repossess six Knightsbridge flats and a five-bedroom mansion called Bishops Avenue - a street in London nicknamed “Billionaires' Row”, whose inhabitants include the Sultan of Brunei and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal.
The family have also been granted two months to redeem charges over the properties, however, in order to avoid a possession order.
According to the bank’s lawyers, the Khans bought the prestigious property, called Dryades, in 2007 with an intention to “maximise its value by demolishing the existing house situated on the site and build a new, very significantly larger house within the curtilage of the site”.
The Khans claim that the opportunity was bought to them by a private banker at Deutsche – Nassim Ahmad – who was a close friend and “trusted advisor” to the family.
The family bought six apartments in a luxury London development – known as ‘The Knightsbridge’ – using a number of loans from different banks.
The developers maintain that Mr Ahmad offered them £66 million of loans, allowing them to refinance the acquired properties and move the portfolio onto Deutsche.
Part of the cash they sought to obtain was set aside to redevelop Draydes, which was bought for £23 million but, once redeveloped, would result in a luxury property worth £80 million, enough to cover the Deutsche Bank loan.
The loan was agreed with the bank in August 2007, with the £50 million the Khans needed to refinance their properties forwarded within days.
The remaining loan amount, however, was withheld by the bank.
In documents passed around in court, the Khans claim that Deutsche: “Breached its contractual obligations in failing to advance the full amount which it had contracted to lend, with the result that the Khan Family were unable to undertake development projects which would have yielded a significant project.”
As a result, the family said that they had been forced “to liquidate certain investments and incur losses on the early redemption of those investments”.
Though the family had sought a three-month repayment period, the bank argued that 21 days was enough.
The High Court judge chose instead to effectively split the difference by setting a two-month limit, however.
He said: “It is important that there is a relatively short deadline. This would serve to concentrate the minds of the defendants and those acting for them. It would also assist in ensuring that any serious negotiations are brought to fruition quickly.”
He then added: “This case started off as a simple debt and possession action. The defendants have fought those claims tooth and nail.
“I have concluded that those defences and claims fail and that the case is in reality a simple debt and possession claim enforceable in accordance with the terms of the parties’ written contracts.”
Deutsche Bank will reclaim a £50 million loan forwarded to a Knightsbridge developer after successfully claiming that the family-based firm breached its loan agreement.
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