Amanda Staveley company now forced into liquidation


 
 
 
 
 
 

Fair to say that 2024 might prove to be not the best of years for Amanda Staveley.

The Saudi Arabia PIF and Reuben family taking full control of all shares at Newcastle United.

With PIF now holding 85% of the club, the Reubens the other 15%.

The originals shareholdings after takeover on 7 October 2021 showed Saudi Arabia PIF owning 80% of the club, Amanda Staveley 10% and the Reubens 10%.

When this summer it was announced that Amanda Staveley would no longer own any part of Newcastle United, filings at Companies House clearly appeared to show that the funding of her original shareholding at NUFC had came from the Reuben family, with the loan(s) paid back when her shares were sold to the other shareholders.

Amanda Staveley and husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi also saw the end of their contractual arrangement with the club, as they had been paid to help run Newcastle United post-takeover.

Amanda Staveley has also had a number of legal battles in the courts in recent years, mainly to do with non-related Newcastle United stuff.

In 2023, Greek shipping tycoon Victor Restis took legal action and demanded £37mn from Amanda Staveley, claiming she had failed to repay a loan he made 15 years ago.

Now that case has seen Amanda Staveley have her company forced into liquidation.

Formerly known as PCP Capital Partners, Staveley’s Apollo Belvedere Services has now been liquidated by a High Court judge.

The Financial Times report that this relates to an original £10m loan that was made to ‘Staveley’s business ventures’ 16 years ago.

Amanda Staveley was ordered to pay an amount of around £3.5m, after she lost a High Court challenge in March of this year, with both sides indicating that this has now been paid.

However, Victor Restis was also demanding interest payments on the loan and last week rejected a £1.6m offer from Apollo/Amanda Staveley, the Greek businessman instead opted to continue pursuing a winding-up petition against that company (Apollo, formerly PCP).

Victor Restis has told the Financial Times that he would now seek the appointment of specialist insolvency practitioners as liquidators of the company to conduct an investigation into its affairs, the circumstances of its liquidation, and Staveley’s conduct as designated member.

The Financial Times report that the entity has no assets and has shown no signs of active trading for a number of years, with this liquidation coming after London’s High Court in March threw out Staveley’s attempt to block the statutory demand served on her by Victor Restis.

Amanda Staveley had said in response to the March ruling in the High Court that she would appeal, on the grounds that she was not personally liable for the sum, but she has since paid the roughly £3.5n.

Victor Restis had initially demanded £36m but Amanda Staveley’s legal representative said in March 2024 that Restis had abandoned an attempt to pursue her for more than £30m in interest.

The Financial Times report that:

‘Staveley’s lawyers previously argued in court that she had signed some agreements with Restis under duress, and that he had taken advantage of her Huntington’s disease, a condition that stops parts of the brain working properly over time.

However, in March Judge Daniel Schaffer in the Insolvency and Companies court, part of the High Court, found against Staveley on a series of grounds, stating that Restis was merely acting as “a businessman who would take a tough position on substantial monies which had been owed to him for a considerable period of time”.

“In my judgment duress of any kind cannot be shown,” he added.

Staveley’s contention that the tycoon threatened her with violence over non-payment lacked credibility, while a claim she made in a witness statement that she did not understand that she was personally liable ventured “into the realm of fantasy”, ruled Judge Schaffer.’

As Newcastle United fans, I think a case of just hoping that whatever has and hasn’t gone on regarding these non-NUFC business dealings, that Amanda Staveley is eventually able to put all of this behind her and get on with her life.