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Nathaniel Rothschild has filed a lawsuit against the financier Lars Windhorst less than six months after the scion of the banking dynasty agreed to become chair of the German entrepreneur’s investment firm.
Lord Rothschild sued Windhorst and Tennor International, his Swiss investment vehicle, in London’s high court on Wednesday, according to court records. Nathaniel Rothschild inherited the British title when his father Jacob, the fourth Baron Rothschild, died last year.
Court records show that the lawsuit is in relation to a contract dispute, with no further details publicly available. However, a spokesperson for Rothschild told the Financial Times that it was related to an alleged debt default.
“This relates to a separate matter distinct from Lord Rothschild’s investment in Tennor, whereby he extended a short-term credit facility to Mr Windhorst personally, which is now in default,” Rothschild’s spokesperson said. “He is disappointed to have to bring this action.”
Windhorst declined to comment on the lawsuit, which was first reported by Bloomberg.
Windhorst, a scandal-prone German financier known for his lavish lifestyle and history of legal troubles, successfully courted Rothschild to become his new business partner last year.
During a party at Windhorst’s Mayfair offices in July, Rothschild announced that he would take a minority stake in the financier’s investment firm Tennor and become its executive chair.
“I’m going to be devoting all of my time to this effort,” Rothschild said at the time. “I’ve never seen anyone who works quite as hard as Lars, it’s quite remarkable.”
In an interview with the FT last month, Windhorst said: “I am very pleased, and in fact excited, to have Lord Rothschild with us.”
Windhorst shot to fame while still a teenager in the 1990s, when Helmut Kohl, the German chancellor at the time, hailed him as a business wunderkind.
However, his business career has been plagued by legal disputes and the collapse of several ventures. Multiple creditors have chased him for repayment through London’s high court in recent years.
His Dutch investment vehicle Tennor Holding has also faced several bankruptcy petitions in the Netherlands, with the group’s former general counsel Peter Calamari filing a fresh claim last month. Calamari did not respond to a request for comment.
Tennor Holding’s German shipbuilding business also filed for insolvency last month, putting 500 jobs at risk.
With Tennor Holding facing claims from creditors, Windhorst has in recent years mainly pursued new deals through Tennor International.
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