Lord Lebedev joins Saudi Crown Prince's project to conquer ageing

Lord Lebedev, the Anglo-Russian owner of the Evening Standard newspaper, has joined a project to defeat ageing set up by the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The peer has taken a seat on the board of the Hevolution Foundation, which plans to spend up to $1bn (£830m) of the Gulf state’s oil wealth a year to slow the ageing process.

Lord Lebedev, who also owns The Independent and is known for his close ties to Boris Johnson, has previously been scrutinised over his titles’ Saudi links.

Saudi-backed entities own 30pc stakes in Lord Lebedev’s two newspapers. The investments, in 2017 and 2018, prompted Government investigations that were ultimately dropped.

The Crown Prince is the chairman of Hevolution’s 10-strong board, which also includes a number of Saudi ministers and the American businessman Ronald Burkle, the majority owner of the Soho House club group.

Lord Lebedev’s parliamentary register of interests describes him as a “trustee” of the foundation.

Hevolution purports to “catalyse the shift from lifespan to healthspan”, extending the healthy lifespan of humans, rather than focusing on treating diseases that come as a result of ageing.

It has been authorised to spend $1bn a year indefinitely and plans to take stakes in biotech companies as well as funding research. The organisation is believed to have been partly inspired by concerns that citizens in Saudi Arabia are “ageing faster biologically than they are chronologically”. Obesity has become a growing concern in the kingdom as its people have become better off.

The foundation has not yet announced any investments or grants.

The Government scrutinised links between Lord Lebedev’s newspapers and Saudi investors in 2019 but was barred from launching a full investigation after a deadline expired.

Sultan Abuljadayel, a Saudi businessman, acquired 30pc stakes in the Independent and Evening Standard in 2017 and 2018 respectively through companies registered in the Cayman Islands.

Lord Lebedev described the process as a “waste of public money, and ours” and Ofcom later said an investigation was not warranted on press freedom grounds.

A representative for Lord Lebedev did not respond to a request for comment.