Who is behind Astel Ltd?

This Guest blog from Alan Brown is the first of two which question whether the two transparency regimes operating in Scotland – the Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land (RCI) and the Register of Overseas Entities (ROE) – are in fact revealing the beneficial owners of offshore landowning companies.

It is also a Guest blog about Mr Guest.

Guest Blog by Alan Brown

As discussed in my previous guest blog, I have been trying for some time to uncover the identity of the ultimate beneficial owner of Craiganour Estate in Perthshire owned by a company registered Jersey. This blog questions whether the registrations that have been belatedly made for Craiganour in the RCI and ROE actually reveal who this person is.

I have an advantage in answering this question because, quite by accident, I met a lady who claimed to be the owner’s wife at Duinish bothy on the estate in 2016. She was a rather charming Latvian who made some very interesting observations on the surrounding landscape. As we talked, she let slip that her husband was an Englishman. Due to her extraordinary offer to bring me roast pork and chanterelles from the lodge for my dinner, it would have felt very rude to have pried any further into the matter.

Fast forwarding to May 2024 I thought I’d have a look in the RCI to see who the husband was. There being no entry in the database I eventually alerted the police to that offence, feeling like something of a cad as I did it. When the police erroneously closed their investigation (see latest here), I thought it was the ideal time to start my own and see if open sources could give me a name for the owner.

Craiganour Estate is owned by Astel Ltd. The estate was sold in 1959 to Ivor Grosvenor Guest, 2nd Viscount Wimbourne as reported in Country Life at the time.

He died in 1967 and in 1973 the Executors transferred ownership to Ivor Fox-Strangways Guest, the 3rd Viscount Wimborne. In 1977 ownership was transferred to Ashby St Ledgers Estate Ltd., a company incorporated in Jersey which later changed its name to Astel Ltd. (which appears to be a contraction of the previous name Ashby St Leger’s Estates Ltd.). Ashby St Ledgers has been the seat of the Guest family since 1903 and was then the address of its UK place of business (it is now Savills in Perth).

Craiganour Estate is a member of the East Loch Ericht Deer Management Group and its published minutes for Autumn 2015 record apologies for the non-attendance of Lord Wimborne (Craiganour).

Ivor Mervyn Vigors Guest has, since 1993, been the fourth, and current, Viscount Wimbourne. He is also the fourth Baron Ashby St Ledgers. We might also note in passing the presence at the meeting of Mrs F. Schwarzenbach, the wife of Mr Urs Schwarzenbach the Swiss financier representing Craiganour’s northern neighbour Corrievarkie and Dalnaspidal Estate but that’s for another blog post.

In 2013 the New York Times ran a piece describing ‘Ivor Guest, Lord Wimborne’ as having a ‘Scottish lodge’ at Craiganour.

A Turrell artwork has been installed at Craiganour.

Mr Guest has a LinkedIn account for his work as a musician. His header picture seems to be of Schiehallion, as seen from Craiganour Lodge;

In a recent post (November 2025) he claims to have been “responsible for the planting of over 4 million trees (Caledonian reforestation), and a good deal of birch wood regeneration”.

Mr Guest is married to a Latvian. I think, given the accumulation of evidence, we can reasonably conclude that Ivor Mervyn Vigors Guest, the fourth Viscount Wimbourne, is the person who currently enjoys the use of Craiganour estate and ultimately makes significant decisions about how it is managed (eg planting trees and attending local deer management group meetings).

RCI AND ROE

So what do the RCI and the ROE have to say about who is behind Astel Ltd.?

The RCI discloses that Astel Ltd. is a Recorded person (ref RP009292) and that there are five associates (persons who exercise significant influence or control over the decision making of Astel Ltd. such as by being significantly involved in the management and direction of the overseas entity. (1)

The Associates are as follows

• Mount Sage Trustees Ltd. (incorporated in the British Virgin Islands)
• Quadrangle Trustee Company (incorporated in UK No. 01183133)
• François Morin (a lawyer based in British Virgin Islands)
• Quadrangle Trust Company (BVI) Limited (incorporated in the British Virgin Islands)
• TMF (B.V.I.) Ltd (incorporated in the British Virgin Islands)

In the Register of Overseas Entities (Ref OE033616), four of the above are recorded as beneficial owners, namely

• François Morin (a Canadian based in BVI)
• Quadrangle Trustee Company (incorporated in UK as above)
• Quadrangle Trust Company (BVI) Limited (incorporated in the British Virgin Islands)
• Mount Sage Trustees Ltd. (incorporated in the British Virgin Islands)

Mount Sage Trustees Ltd. and Quadrangle Trust Company (BVI) Limited. each own more than 25% of the shares of Astel Ltd. as trustees of a trust (In the latest 2024 Annual Accounts for Astel Ltd. all of the share capital of the company is stated as being owned by these two companies).

The other two beneficial owners (Morin and Quadrangle Trustee Company) are each stated in the ROE as having significant influence over a Trust which owns over 25% of the shares in the entity.

So we know that Astel Ltd is wholly owned by two BVI companies each acting as trustees of a trust and that Morin and Quadrangle Trustee Company each have significant influence over this unnamed trust.

But nowhere in either of these statutory registers designed to promote greater transparency over land ownership, is the identity of this trust nor the role (if any) of Mr Guest revealed. This is despite his wife claiming that he owns the estate and he himself has admitted to being responsible for key management functions.

When I started looking into Craiganour I thought I would eventually find some grim plutocrat at the helm. Mr Guest however has come a long way from the south Wales iron foundry that is the basis for the Guest family wealth, now stashed offshore. He’s an enormously cultured man, a musician and, famously, the producer of some of Grace Jones’ recent records and stage shows, as well as Grammy-nominated for his work with Beyoncé.

It’s not at all clear if he is aware of the efforts his advisers have gone to to keep his name away from that of Craiganour. Nor is it clear whether his relationship with Astel Ltd. is even required to be disclosed by the regulations governing the RCI and the ROE.

You can read the regulations yourself here and try and work out if he is an associate or not.

Best of luck.

If he is aware, I do wonder what motivates his desire for anonymity. I’ll use the channels I have to see if I can pass this blog post on to him. Perhaps he’ll even find the time to write a response?

Notes

1. See Paragraphs 12(iv) and 15 of Part 5 of Schedule I of the Regulations (as amended)