Just one director - Evgeny Lebedev - is listed for Evening Press Ltd, registered at Companies House in December. The 28 year-old Mr Lebedev, is, of course, the son of Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev, who is negotiating over the Evening Standard with its owner, Daily Mail & General Trust chairman Lord Rothermere .

Lebedev junior owns St James' restaurant Sake No Hana and is active on the London social scene with girlfriend Joely Richardson . He often features in the Standard, wearing anything from a white three-piece suit to a fur-trimmed coat. He is said to have a plan up his gilded sleeve to turn round the lossmaking paper in three years.