Robert Tchenguiz

The younger brother of Vincent Tchenguiz, he undertook a series of corporate deals, focusing particularly on property assets associated with UK pub and supermarket chains, during the 2000s.

[5] In a booming real estate market, they also applied an American financial engineering strategy of securitization: borrowing large sums against future cashflows from company assets, enabling them to access more debt, and on better terms (and much of it - reportedly over £2 billion - from Iceland's Kaupthing Bank), than had been thought possible.

[17] While the initial bid was rebuffed, Tchenguiz continued to pursue M&B in 2007[18] only for M&B management to postpone a proposed property joint venture due to a credit crunch heralding the financial crisis of 2007–08.

[24] In October 2008, under pressure from Kaupthing Bank, which had backed many of Tchenguiz's investments, he was forced to sell off holdings in M&B, Sainsbury's, SCi Entertainment and other businesses, incurring substantial losses estimated at over £800 million.

[25] And in February 2009, Kaupthing announced it was suing Oscatello Investments, a British Virgin Islands-based holding company controlled by Tchenguiz, in relation to an unpaid overdraft of £643m.

[28] Meanwhile, in April 2009, Tchenguiz's Globe Pub Company faced administration after defaulting on a loan payment;[29] the chain's 421 outlets were bought from the receivers by Heineken in October 2009.

[30] In the wake of the collapse of Kaupthing Bank, Robert Tchenguiz was suspected of fraudulent dealings and was arrested in a dawn raid in 2011; however, the investigation ended in 2012 with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) citing "insufficient evidence", and no indictment was ever brought.

[34] However, Tchenguiz also took legal action against Grant Thornton and partners at the firm who he claimed had misled the SFO into investigating him and brother Vincent,[35] though the dispute reportedly also created a rift between the brothers due to a legal row over administration of the Tchenguiz Family Trust; main beneficiary Vincent was accused by Robert of making false representations "of a serious nature" about him to Grant Thornton.

[43] In December 2019, FirstGroup announced it was considering a sale of its north American businesses, leading Tchenguiz, holding 4.7% of the company, to claim a shareholders victory.

[55] In May 2020, Tchenguiz submitted plans to Westminster City Council to convert the former headquarters of MI5 (Leconfield House in Curzon Street, Mayfair) into a 65-bedroom private members' hotel.

In December 2021, Bird defended her actions in a filing at the district Missoula division court in Montana, saying their 14-year-old son feared returning to the UK because he would be forced to have sex with a prostitute to "make him a man".

[61][62] In March 2022, Tchenguiz won a court ruling against Westminster City Council after anti-terrorism traffic arrangements near the Royal Albert Hall restricted access to his home.

The High Court ruled that the measures unduly interfered with Tchenguiz's private life, preventing visitors to his home by car between noon and midnight.