UT (Tax & Chancery) UT-2022-0000150 - [2024] UKUT 00254 (TCC)

On 25 June 2008, Barclays sent the ASA to the Qataris. It consisted of a single page, which read as follows:

“We are extremely pleased and honoured to be writing to you in connection with a new advisory agreement between our two institutions.

You agree to provide various services to us, as an intermediary, in connection with the development of our business in the Middle East. You will provide these services over a period of 36 months to a total value of
£42,000,000 [handwritten]. In return, we will pay you the sum of £42,000,000 [handwritten] in four equal instalments, the first within two weeks of signing, the second on 1 October 2008, the third on 1 January 2009 and the last on 1 April 2009. We have discussed the type and scale of services you will provide to deliver value in exchange for this fee and we know this will need to be refined by mutual agreement as our relationship develops further. Both parties will monitor and review this arrangement and act in good faith in connection with the formulation and arrangement of the services to be provided. We are not creating a partnership or agency arrangement and neither party may make any commitment on behalf of the other without express instructions from the party intending to be bound.

This letter and the arrangements contemplated by it will be governed by English law.”