McKillen awarded more than £700M

LONDON – Billionaire Northern Irish property investor Paddy McKillen has reportedly been awarded more than £700 million in a dispute with Maybourne Group, the owner of top London hotels, including Claridge’s.

McKillen was a former investor in Maybourne Group, which was acquired in 2015 by Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani, a billionaire and the former Prime Minister of Qatar, along with other Qatari investors, in a £1.3 billion deal.

As part of the acquisition, the Qataris agreed to retain McKillen on a consultancy contract to run and renovate the three properties in the group. McKillen would be granted 36% of any subsequent increase in the valuation of the hotels, minus the cost of the work.

The Qataris ended their partnership with McKillen early and McKillen estimated that he was owed more than £1 billion for his involvement in the project. However, the Qataris argued McKillen was owed substantially less.

Reports indicate that the London Court of International Arbitration has awarded McKillen between £700m and £800m, believed to be one of the highest awards for such a case made in the past decade.

However, an award at arbitration does not guarantee payment, as losing parties can refuse to hand over the sum. In this case, the winning party would need to go to court to enforce the award.