Robert Tchenguiz loses fortune but yacht safe

The flamboyant property tycoon Robert Tchenguiz may be one of London's highest-profile victims of the global credit crunch so far after losing an estimated £560m in the last 12 weeks. Happily, however, his yacht is safe, remaining at its Monaco mooring. Iranian-born Tchenquiz, whose fortune, shared with his older brother Vincent, was previously calculated at £850m, is a party jet-setter with connections to Bernie Ecclestone and Stelios Haji-Ioannou. But in recent years he has given priority to his business interests over his playboy lifestyle, becoming one of the most formidable investors in the City.

However, according to research by the Guardian, the fortunes of the Tchenguiz empire have now plummeted - on paper at least. Since November 4, declines in the share price of Sainsbury's, the pub group Mitchells & Butlers and the computer games publisher SCi Entertainment, the company behind the Lara Croft Tomb Raider computer games, have led to respective drops in the value of Tchenguiz investments of £325m, £200m and £40m.

But the man who is said to have introduced Princess Diana to Dodi Fayed is taking the losses on the chin. "So I've lost a lot of money, but I'm not in trouble as people keep saying," he said. "It's just a case of taking the rough with the smooth, that's all." And he has definitely not been forced to sell his yacht.