More bad news for Candy brothers

Is this the beginning of the end for Nick and Christian Candy, the sharp-suited London property tycoons? Severely battered (and fried) by the credit crunch and the slump in house prices, the brothers have now been forced to abandon one of their most talked up developments and are fighting to secure the future of another.

The project they’ve had to ditch is the so-called Noho Square complex of apartments being built north of Oxford Street in central London. The Candys' partner was the Icelandic bank Kaupthing, which was nationalised earlier this month. This led to deterioration in relations and now the brothers have walked away, transfering their shares back to the bank and incurring a loss of £5m.

In California, the Candy's are fighting to save a development in Belverly Hills after they defaulted on a $365m loan for prime land bought last year. And these are not their only problems. Back in London, they having to contend with fierce opposition to their re-developement of Chelsea Barracks, which is opposed by the Duke of Westminster, the Mittal family and the actor Rupert Everett. ·