The directors of the firm that managed the UK estate of the Abu Dhabi royal family for more than 16 years are bringing an action at the employment tribunal for unfair dismissal and failure to comply with TUPE regulations.
Lancer Asset Management, led by John Kevill and Andrew Lax, ran the Abu Dhabi royal family’s UK property holdings, including the Berkeley Square estate, from 2001 until last year, increasing its value from £325m to more than £5bn.
That arrangement was terminated by its clients and replaced by Astrea Asset Management last year.
Lancer: A brief history
The directors of Lancer Asset Management first picked up the contract to manage the Berkeley Square Estate on behalf of the Abu Dhabi royal family while at GVA Saxon Law in 2001.
The contract was spun out of GVA in 2004 and management company Lancer was formed.
Since that time, Lancer has expanded the estate from a value of around £325m to more than £5bn.
Alongside the flagship asset – Berkeley Square – the estate also includes the former BHS on London’s Oxford Street and 33 Cavendish Square, W1.
Employees of Lancer were not ultimately transferred across to Astrea on grounds of breach of fiduciary duty and failing to co-operate on an orderly handover of the business. Lancer is disputing those claims.
Astrea, formerly known as Squadron Properties, was set up in October 2016 by Mustafa Kheriba, the chief operating officer of Abu Dhabi Financial Group and an executive director of Northacre, the developer behind New Scotland Yard and 1 Palace Street, both SW1.
Giles Easter, previously associate partner at Brockton Capital and head of asset management at Aberdeen Asset Management, was brought in as chief executive of the new business.
EG revealed in April 2017 that the Abu Dhabi royal family was considering changing its management company and was in talks with Kheriba’s ADFG.
Astrea was given the contract to manage the estate in July 2017 and formerly took over on 28 September.
Duncan Ferguson, a director at Lancer, is bringing a separate claim for unlawful disability discrimination and unlawful detriment under the Part-Time Workers regulations against Astrea and Easter.
Ferguson claims he was dismissed just hours after transferring across to Astrea because the firm was unhappy with his need to work part-time. He was operating on part-time hours to take care of his terminally ill wife.
Unlike unfair dismissal claims, disability discrimination claims are uncapped.
Astrea confirmed the claims were being defended but declined to comment further.
Kevill and Lax are both seeking termination payments, while Ferguson is understood to be seeking reinstatement to his previous role and compensation for loss of earnings or compensation for unfair dismissal.
A preliminary hearing is due to take place at the employment tribunal next month, with a final hearing scheduled before the end of the year.
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