"Shard of Glass" Development
European Finance House is delighted to be involved in the £2bn development of London Bridge Quarter.
Following the acquisition of an 80% stake in project company London Bridge Quarter Holdings Ltd by a consortium of institutional Qatari investors, European Finance House (‘EFH’) has been asked to provide specialist asset management, Shari’a compliance and advisory services to the founding members of the project consortium. The consortium comprises EFH’s 66% shareholder, Qatar Islamic Bank, and QInvest, Qatar National Bank, Barwa and Sellar Property Group.
London Bridge Quarter is designed by internationally acclaimed architect Renzo Piano. The project, which has been 8 years in the planning, will integrate the development of 2 major commercial buildings, the iconic 72-storey Shard of Glass, and London Bridge Place with the reconfiguration of the key London Bridge transport hub into a dynamic commercial quarter. The regeneration of this area of London is anticipated to create many thousands of jobs for both the local and wider community.
At 1,016 ft (310m) the Shard will be Europe’s tallest tower. Its spire like design has been compared to a Shard of Glass and will redefine the London skyline. When completed the building will be of truly mixed use providing a net 899,000sq ft (83,550s.m.) of grade A office, hotel, residential and leisure space. London Bridge Place will provide a net 433,000 sq ft (40,241 s.m.) of grade A office space. The development is scheduled to complete in early 2012 and is underpinned by pre-letting agreements with Transport for London and the Shangri-La Hotel Group.
Salah Jaidah, Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB)and EFH board member, commented:
“This project is an exciting and strategic one for QIB and our subsidiary in London, European Finance House. This represents, for us, a positive conclusion to 9 months of negotiations. Over this period QInvest and QIB took the lead and were the parties that initiated the idea of founding the Qatari consortium of banks for this project. It is also the first time ever that a Qatari consortium of banks has joined together for a project in the international market and we are proud to be part of it.”
Mike Clark, the Chief Executive Officer of European Finance House, commented:
“The Shard will become a symbol of London recognisable throughout the world. Understandably EFH is very proud to be part of the project consortium’s financial advisory team, on which our 10% shareholder Groupe Financiere Centuria is playing a leading role. Our aim is to be the leading Shari’a compliant investment bank in the UK and continental Europe. This appointment recognises our own specialist expertise but also the pioneering role of our parent, QIB, which for the second year running has been awarded Best Islamic Real Estate House by Euromoney Magazine.”
Michael Clark – Chief Executive Officer
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Disclaimer:
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