The luxury Maybourne London hotel group — which is the source of a bitter dispute between Irish developer Paddy McKillen and the billionaire Barclay brothers — last year returned to pre-tax profit.

Bono joined two businessmen and a billionaire Saudi prince on a yacht in the south of France as a multimillion-pound deal to sell one of the world’s most famous hotels was finalised, a British High Court judge was told yesterday.

A businessman regarded as the face of Coroin, the hotel group, regularly used hotels owned by the firm and ran up a large unpaid bill, developer Patrick McKillen told the High Court in London yesterday.