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The former owners of the Telegraph have avoided bankruptcy after reaching an 11th-hour agreement with HSBC over more than £140m in overdue debts.

At a high court hearing on Tuesday, a lawyer for Europe’s biggest bank said it was seeking to dismiss the petitions against Aidan and Howard Barclay, whose family lost control of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph in 2023 over £1.16bn of unpaid debts owed to Lloyds Bank.

HSBC filed bankruptcy petitions against the brothers last year amid large debts owed by the Logistics Group, the parent company of the Barclay family’s brands Yodel and ArrowXL.

The bank was owed £143.5m by the business, with the brothers having provided personal guarantees to secure the loans. HSBC later clawed back £1.1m from the administration process.

The bank dropped its legal action after the brothers, aged 70 and 66, agreed to a debt repayment plan, or individual voluntary arrangement (IVA). Details of the agreement were not disclosed.

Matthew Abraham, for HSBC, told the court that an IVA was approved by creditors at a virtual meeting last Tuesday. Judge Burton said she was “content in the circumstances” to dismiss the petitions.

The Barclay family built up a multibillion pound business empire through debt-fuelled acquisitions that began to rapidly unravel three years ago.

In 2023, the family lost control of the Telegraph and Spectator to Lloyds Bank over £1.16bn in unpaid debts.

RedBird IMI, a joint venture majority controlled by International Media Investments (IMI) of Abu Dhabi, took control by providing a loan of about £600m secured and against the titles, and another of about the same amount secured against other Barclay family assets, including the retailer Very Group.

After three years of uncertainty, the German media company Axel Springer last month acquired the Telegraph for £575m, while the GB News-backer Sir Paul Marshall bought the Spectator for £100m in 2024.

The same year the family sold the Spectator’s headquarters in the heart of Westminster to a Bavarian rubber glove tycoon.

Last October the Carlyle Group, a US private equity firm, took control of Very Group, the owner of Littlewoods and the online shopping site Very, bringing an end to two decades of ownership by the Barclays.

In December, IMI seized control of the Barclay family’s property firm Trenport Property Holdings, which holds investments in land development and housebuilding.

Earlier this year administrators at Interpath were appointed to replace Aidan and Howard, the two eldest sons of the late Sir David Barclay.

There has been a fire sale of family assets in recent years including their beloved superyacht, Lady Beatrice, named after the mother of twins Sir David and Sir Frederick, in 2025.

The 60-metre yacht, bought in 1993, was sold for an undisclosed sum to the founder of Oakley Capital, Peter Dubens, but had been listed for €22m (£19m).

A property in Switzerland was also sold last year. It is not clear where the property is located, but it has previously been reported that the Barclay family owns property in Gstaad in the Swiss Alps.

In 2020, the family also sold off the Ritz hotel in London for about £750m amid a feud over their assets, as rumours of financial difficulties mounted.

The Barclay family still own the island of Brecqhou, on which they built a £60m gothic castle, and about 23% of neighbouring Sark, in the Channel Islands. However, many islanders have long been unhappy with the actions of the family, with most of the properties they own now derelict or in a state of poor repair.

A £20m offer was made to buy the Barclay’s Sark properties after the death of Sir David in 2021.

HSBC and the Barclay family declined to comment.