(Reuters) - Canary Wharf Group has sold a 1 million square foot (93,000 sq metre) building in London's financial district to a Chinese-Qatari consortium for 795 million pounds ($1.4 billion), the group's owner said on Friday.
Qatar has built a significant presence in London's real estate market in recent years.
Under the deal to buy the skyscraper which houses law firm Clifford Chance, China Life Insurance Company will own 70 percent of the building and Qatar Holding a 20 percent stake. Songbird Estates, Canary Wharf Group's owner, said it will retain a 10 percent interest in the property.
The purchase was financed through equity provided by the stakeholders proportionate to their stakes, as well as through bank loans, Songbird Estates said in a statement.
Shares in Songbird were trading 0.15 percent higher at 249 pence by 1446 GMT.
The skyscraper at 10 Upper Bank Street is rented for an annual fee of 44.35 million pounds. It will continue to be managed by Canary Wharf Group.
Qatar's presence in London's real estate also includes the Shard, Western Europe's tallest skyscraper at about 310 metres (1,016 feet). The iconic building was funded by Qatar's royal family and opened in 2012.
A Qatari-backed plan to redevelop a central London site next to the River Thames was earlier this month given the go-ahead by the British government.
Under the plan, eight new buildings will be constructed in the area around the 1960s British headquarters of oil company Shell, near to the landmark London Eye wheel on the south bank of the Thames, creating a 1.45 million sq ft complex with shops and offices and 877 homes.
The Gulf Arab state's Investment Authority and China Investment Corp are major shareholders in Songbird Estates.
($1 = 0.5864 British Pounds) (Reporting by Karolin Schaps; Editing by James Macharia/Ruth Pitchford)
Source: http://www.reuters.com
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More detail from en.wikipedia.org/wiki
Canary Wharf is a major business district located in Tower Hamlets, London, United Kingdom. It is one of London's two main financial centres – along with the traditional City of London – and contains many of the UK's tallest buildings, including the second-tallest, One Canada Square.
Canary Wharf contains around 14,000,000 square feet (1,300,000 m2) of office and retail space, of which around 7,900,000 square feet (730,000 m2) is owned by Canary Wharf Group.[3] Around 105,000 people work in Canary Wharf and it is home to the world or European headquarters of numerous major banks, professional services firms and media organisations including Barclays, Citigroup, Clifford Chance, Credit Suisse, Infosys, Fitch Ratings, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, KPMG, MetLife, Morgan Stanley, RBC, Skadden, State Street and Thomson Reuters.
Canary Wharf is located in the West India Docks on the Isle of Dogs in the Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. The West India Docks once formed part of the busiest port in the world. After the docks were closed in 1980 the British Government adopted various policies to stimulate the redevelopment of the area, including through the creation of the London Docklands Development Corporation in 1981 and granting the Isle of Dogs Enterprise Zone status in 1982. In 1987 the Canadian company Olympia and York agreed to construct a major office development on the Isle of Dogs, with construction commencing in 1988
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org
