Bank crisis favours Amanda Staveley

Amanda Staveley (pictured), the former girlfriend of Prince Andrew, is doing very well out of the financial crises. The Sunday Times reported yesterday that a company she controls brokered a large chunk of last week's capital injection into Barclays Bank by Middle Eastern investors, a transaction that will make her outfit £40m in commission and fees.

Staveley's PCP Capital Partners, a boutique advisory firm, acted for Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family, who has put up £3.5bn to secure a 16 per cent stake in Barclays. For Staveley, 35, it marks the second big pay day in the past two months. As reported here in September, she also masterminded the takeover of Manchester City football club for the sheikh, which is said to have made PCP £10m.

Staveley's intimacy with Middle Eastern investors springs from humble origins. She once ran Stocks, a restaurant in Newmarket, which was frequented by senior staff from the Arab Emirates multi-billionaire's stable.