Clifford Chance client Barclays settles £50m Libor claim

The settlement is the second high-profile deal made by Barclays in 18 months after the bank agreed to settle Libor and interest rate swap mis-selling claims brought by Guardian Care Homes last year.

Barclays settled with Rhino Enterprises for an undisclosed sum following mediation last week with the deal signed before the case even reached its first hearing, The Lawyer understands.

The bank’s settlement with Guardian Care Homes in April 2014 cost it a reported £40m and avoided the potential embarrassment of having its former chief executive Bob Diamond appear before the High Court.

It also prevented documents and extensive email disclosure from Barclays being put in the public domain through a court case.

Rhino’s claim was expected to throw light on the activities of Barclays’ Singapore-based Ricardo Master Fund, which it alleged directly profited from the bank’s manipulation of Libor.

Rhino launched its claim in June, instructing Collyer Bristow partner Stephen Rosen. The company alleged it was mis-sold £24m worth of interest rate swaps by Barclays, which then led to Rhino going into administration.

Rosen instructed Guildhall Chambers’ Stephen Davies QC, Neil Levy and John Virgo – the same advocacy team representing Guardian Care Homes against Barclays.

At the time the claim was launched a statement by Rosen read: “Businesses have a right to expect their banks to behave honestly and to provide appropriate products. In this case, false Libor submissions made rates unreliable if not meaningless and Rhino relied on Barclays’ representations when entering into unsuitable swaps arrangements that eventually triggered insolvency.”

Barclays turned to Clifford Chance partner Ian Moulding to defend the claim, instructing 3 Verulam Buildings’ Adrian Beltrami QC and Fountain Court Chambers’ Simon Atrill.

In a a joint statement the parties said: “Legal proceedings between Rhino Enterprises Limited, Rhino Enterprises Properties Limited and Askwith Investments Limited as claimants and Barclays bank as defendant have been concluded on mutually acceptable terms. The terms are confidential between the parties. No further comment will be made on these proceedings.”

Barclays was the first to settle with authorities in the global regulatory probe into alleged Libor rigging in 2012, paying £290m to US and UK agencies. Diamond lost his job in the aftermath of the settlement.

The bank successfully defended an interest rate swaps claim in the High Court in November against property investment company Thornbridge Limited. The bank instructed Matthew Arnold & Baldwin on the £5m claim with Thornbridge represented by Aticus Law Solicitors.

MAB partner Steven Mills instructed Fountain Court’s Andrew Mitchell QC and David Murray for the defendant. Aticus Law partner Simon Fagan instructed Fountain Court’s Richard Coleman QC for the claimant.