|
Qatar swoops for more London real estate
Real estate news By Reuters
Sunday, 07 October 2007
Qatar has agreed to buy part of a London residential development through the investment agency that acquired the Chelsea Barracks from Britain's defence ministry this year, a spokesman for the agency said on Sunday. State-owned Qatar Diar agreed to buy three buildings of the Grosvenor Waterside development in Chelsea. When they are completed in 2012, the buildings will have 335 apartments, the spokesman said, confirming a statement carried by local media.
Qatar has agreed to buy part of a London residential development through the investment agency that acquired the Chelsea Barracks from Britain's defence ministry this year, a spokesman for the agency said on Sunday. State-owned Qatar Diar agreed to buy three buildings of the Grosvenor Waterside development in Chelsea. When they are completed in 2012, the buildings will have 335 apartments, the spokesman said, confirming a statement carried by local media. "This project... will complement our purchase of Chelsea Barracks," Diar Chief Executive Nasser Al-Ansari was quoted as saying in the statement.
Diar bought the Chelsea Barracks in London from Britain's Ministry of Defence in April. London's Financial Times reported it paid around 600 million pounds ($1.22 billion). Diar's owner, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), has offered to buy British supermarket chain J Sainsbury for 10.6 billion pounds. The authority, a sovereign wealth fund worth an estimated $50 billion, is diversifying away from the weakening US dollar which Qatar's customers pay for its oil and gas exports. The authority has cut its dollar holdings assets by more than half to 40% in the past two years, Qatar's prime minister said last week.
Send tips or a Letter to the Editor to editor@updatere.com
|
