Amanda Staveley launches appeal over Barclays court defeat
Financier Amanda Staveley has launched an appeal after losing her lawsuit against Barclays over the behaviour of the bank’s bosses negotiating investment deals.
In a high-profile trial Staveley sued the lender over claims it gave her private equity firm PCP Capital Partners less favourable treatment than other parties in the emergency £7.3bn fundraising that saved the bank from a state bailout in 2008.
The trial heard claims that former Barclays’ bosses Richard Boath and Roger Jenkins allegedly called the businesswoman a “dolly bird” and a tart.
In February a judge said Barcalys was “guilty of serious deceit” but ruled she was not entitled to any damages.
PCP has now filed an appeal challenging the decision not to award damages, the Sunday Times reported.
During the trial PCP lawyers argued the firm missed out on £660m after Barclays allegedly made deals with its largest investor, the Qatar state, offering it superior terms on its £2bn investment.
Despite the ruling, Barclays was told it would need to pay its own £33.6m in legal costs.
Speaking after the judgement Richard East, senior partner at Quinn Emanuel who represented PCP, said: “This judgment makes clear that Ms Staveley was a reliable and honest witness and that by contrast, Barclays was dishonest in its dealings with PCP and misled Ms Staveley as to the true nature of its deal with Qatar.”
“It is disappointing that, despite the Judge finding that Ms Staveley was a tough, persistent, clever and able negotiator, that he found ultimately that she could not have completed the deal which she had put in place and hence no loss was suffered. This is a surprising outcome.”
Barclays avoided criminal charges over the fundraising following an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office in 2008 and former bosses were acquitted of conspiracy to commit fraud last year.
However, the bank is still facing an investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority.