Paddy McKillen, 70, has been in a long-running dispute with Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani.

Paddy McKillen snr’s demands to be paid more than €1bn by the Qatari owners of Claridges were heard in London last week when the arbitration hearings took place at the LCIA which will bring to an end the pairs 3 year long legal battle over the Maybourne Group.

McKillen, 70, has been in a long-running dispute with Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani, who is known as HBJ for short.

The arbitration case centers on the increase in value of the Maybourne group, which owns several top five-star London hotels including the Claridges and the Connaught, during the tenure that McKillen managed the hotels on behalf of the Qatari owner. McKillen’s management contract was not renewed in 2022 and he had no choice but to the Maybourne board.

McKillen, who was introduced to HBJ originally by Tony Blair, previously told the Irish Times that the Qataris have ‘made an awful lot of money out of my sweat.’

The arbitration proceedings will assess the value of the Maybourne’s stable of luxury hotels. McKillen has publicly claimed that he is owed around €1bn under a profit-share agreement that he signed with HBJ in 2015 when they took over his 36 per cent share of the Maybourne group. The Qataris dismiss McKillen’s claim that the hotels increased four-fold in value and are instead arguing for a much smaller payout.

Both sides say that the contract between McKillen and the Qataris is unambiguous and favours their own interpretation.A source close to the legal case dismissed McKillen’s claim, accusing the hotelier of ‘looking for one last pay day.’

‘His business empire is in a lot of trouble and he has defaulted on many of his loans and lost a large number of his prized assets. A big pay-day from the Qataris might get him out of the financial and legal trouble he currently is in,’ the source added.

Since the proceedings began, McKillen has appeared to suffer a string of financial and legal setbacks. A number of his assets are being sold off by creditors, including most recently the Jervis Shopping Centre in Dublin, after McKillen did not repay his €155.0m loan to AIB.

The Irish Business Post reported earlier this year that Frenchgate Interchange Limited, a firm controlled by McKillen, defaulted on tens of millions of euros worth of loans before it wound up last year. The group, which is linked to the Frenchgate Shopping Centre in Doncaster – which was sold to Mike Ashley – owed £196.3m to its lenders at the end of 2023.

Lending agreements McKillen entered into with Cheyne Capital, and Elliott Management resulted in those funds taking over McKillen’s Press-Up Hospitality Group and the Dean Hotel Group.He furthermore had to refinance a number of loans with Fortress Management.

Creative Cedar, and the Butler Arms Hotel Waterville, both property development companies related to McKillen, are in receivership, whilst Oakmont, a company owning several pubs, is trying to publicly sell its assets.

The non-repayment of his mortgage loan he took out with Quintet private bank against his property in Paris resulted in a criminal conviction in a French court after McKillen was found guilty of assaulting a female bailiff.

The court heard that he had attacked Anna Cohen-Bacri, 33, on 25 June last year. McKillen was fined €10,000 (£8,166) and was ordered to pay her €1,500 (£1,255) in damages and costs. His lawyers said he will appeal.

Outside of the arbitration proceedings, McKillen filed legal cases against the Qataris in relation to property development work he claimed he did for outside of managing the Maybourne Group in the UK, the US and in France amongst others. These cases have recently suffered a legal setbacks.

https://londoninsider.co.uk/paddy-mckillens-dispute-nears-end-as-arbitration-hearings-take-place-in-london/

Earlier this year, McKillen lost a case against HBJ in London for unpaid consultancy fees for his company – Hume Street Management Consultants’ – work on HBJ’s Belgravia home, Forbes House.

The 19th century mansion, which is minutes from Buckingham Palace, was dubbed ‘London’s first £300m home.

A High Court Judge in London ruled that his €4.5m (£3.69m) claim had ‘failed… to show that there is a serious issue to be tried on the merits of the claim…’ and that it lacked any “any coherence or conviction”McKillen is also suing HBJ in LA for unpaid fees, claiming that he helped furnish HBJ’s 24-bedroom, 30-bathroom palazzo with expensive art, including pieces by Damien Hirst, a personal friend of McKillen.

Paddy McKillens Dispute Nears End as Arbitration Hearings Take Place

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