Is this the beginning of the end for Robert Tchenguiz? Although we do not know exactly how much he paid for his stakes in Mitchells & Butlers and J Sainsbury, initial calculations would suggest that today's sale of the two investments has crystallised combined losses of more than £700 million.

It is easy to cast aspersions on the Iranian-born entrepreneur's debt-fuelled buying binge of recent years. But was he doing anything different than myriad private equity firms and high net-worth individuals?

With a bit more luck, Mr Tchenguiz could have come up smelling of roses rather than the Icelandic ordure he finds himself caked in today. Both M&B and Sainsbury's have been the subject of abortive bids and property transactions over the past couple of years - many of them at the instigation of Mr Tchenguiz himself - and he could just as easily have made big profits rather than huge losses.

The other piece of bad luck he suffered was in getting Kaupthing to back so many of his deals. The Icelandic bank is now liquidating as many investments as possible to shore up its own precarious position, forcing many of its clients to sell investments against which they borrowed its money.

Mr Tchenguiz still controls the Globe Pub Company, Town & City Pub Company and Bay Restaurant Group, but for how long?

The property tycoon will undoubtedly have put aside some of the millions he made in the good times, and he is the sort of individual who could easily bounce back when the good times return. But for now he must carry the tag of becoming the latest high-profile casualty of the worst financial crisis in living memory. He will not be the last.

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