News & Views
Interesting stuff happening on the Middle East property scene
Interesting stuff happening on the Middle East property scene
Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser al-Missned of Qatar might be a relative newcomer among Gulf buyers of property in Lebanon – but she is fast gaining a reputation as one of the most serious, with an ever-growing list of titles to her name.
Born 8 August 1959 in the coastal city of Al Khor, northern Qatar, Mozah is the daughter of the late Nasser bin Abdullah al-Missned, a prominent Qatari, who was exiled by a former emir. Consequently, the family lived in Kuwait and Egypt for many of Mozah’s formative years.
She has a degree in sociology and in July 2015 earned her master’s degree in public policy in Islam from Hamad bin Khalifa University. She has many honorary doctorates and international awards.
She is the second of the three wives of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the former emir of Qatar. Her son, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, succeeded as emir in 2013.
Sheikha Mozah is considered a power-house in Qatar politics. In 2010, she was named No. 74 on Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Women list. She is the unrivalled driving force behind education and social reforms in Qatar.
It is believed that she was influential in the Qatar government’s decision to buy Harrods in London, and that she was instrumental in the purchase of the Valentino fashion house. The Qatari royal family, through its various investment companies, owns substantial holdings in the UK and other countries.
In Lebanon, Sheikha Mozah owns a sprawling landmark property on the outskirts of Aley, along with interests in many notable developments, including a new hotel on the former site of Aley’s historic Tanios Hotel. (Read more about the Tanios Hotel redevelopment.)
In her homeland, she has focused on education as the means of disseminating Qatar’s message. She has started her own campaign, Education For All, with the aim of placing an extra 10 million children around the world into schools. The cost of this campaign is estimated to be $1bn, a third of which will be met by Qatar. No less than half the country’s overseas aid budget is devoted to education, much of it in places that possess little strategic significance.
Chair of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, she was credited with overseeing the expansion of university education in Qatar (including branches of many international universities), establishing the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra and a state-of-the-art medical facility, Sidra. She was a driving force behind Education City and Al Jazeera Children’s Channel. In 2003 she was Unesco’s special envoy for basic and higher education.
In her own words – “We need politicians to understand the power of education for their own countries, for their economies. It should not be seen as a luxury. It is essential.”
We can’t talk about Sheikha Mozah and not mention fashion – the two are synonymous.
A regular on Vanity Fair’s “Best Dressed” lists, Sheikah Mozah is also the subject of many fashion magazine features, pinboards and a tumblr blog dedicated to her haute couture wardrobe.
We’ll leave the last word to Vanity Fair – “Qatar Royal opulence meets Hitchcock heroine: the personal style of Qatar’s Sheikha Mozah makes her a veteran of the International Best-Dressed List. We’re partial to her perfected pairing of a turban with vintage-Persol-esque shades. (The Best-Dressed First Ladies of the World list, 2013).
For almost 150 years – since the mid-19th century – the state of Qatar has been ruled by the Al Thani family.
It is an absolute monarchy, which means the monarch has unrestricted political power over the state and its people.
There have been eight rulers in total. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani was the ruling Emir of Qatar from 1995, when he seized power from his father Sheikh Khalifa in a bloodless palace coup d’état supported by the armed forces, cabinet and neighbouring states.
He has 24 children from three wives, a fortune of untold billions and his family’s huge state investment fund owns more of London than the Crown Estate, and boasts investments all over the world.
His son, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani took over in June 2013, being educated in the UK at Sherborne School, Harrow and Sandhurst Military Academy.
While not technically in line for the title, the boy replaced his own brother as crown prince in 2003.
Sheikh Tamim married his second cousin in 2005 and had four children, and then married his second wife – the daughter of the Qatari Ambassador to Jordan – in 2009 and has a daughter and a son.
The Al Thani family (aka Qatar government) has various companies –
QIA – Qatar Investment Authority – this is the main investment unit of the Qatar government, one of the world’s largest sovereign investment funds, estimated worth over $300 billion.
Qatar Holdings – This is an “indirect subsidiary” of the QIA
Qatari Diar – A subsidiary of QIA. Qatari Diar owns 45% of Qatar Barwa Real Estate (the remaining 55% is traded on the Doha Securities Market).
Waterknights – a private company owned by Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Jabr Al Thani – former Qatari PM and former deputy head of the QIA.
Whenever a British or foreign property is sold to Qatar, the press as a matter of course seems always to assume the buyer is the (former) emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani or, more recently, his son Tamin bin Hamid Al Thani.
Such was the case with the sale of the historic Dudley House in London and Hôtel Lambert in Paris. Both these properties (and many more) were, in fact, purchased by the “other” Al Thani family.
Slightly less famous, but almost as wealthy, the “other” Al Thanis are the emir’s first cousins.
The six Al Thani brothers – Sheikhs Hamad, Suhaim, Fahad, Khalifa, Tamin and Mohammed – are the sons of Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani, the former emir’s brother.
In 1999, the six brothers founded their own investment company, QIPCO (Qatar Investment & Projects Development Holding Company). QIPCO is reportedly worth about $5 billion, and has no connections to the Q.I.A. (Qatar Investment Authority) or the business activities of the emir’s family. “Ours is a family company, completely private. QIPCO is a business that just happens to be based in Doha,” Sheikh Hamad has said.
The holding company has a diverse range of interests, including real estate, construction, oil and gas, trading and services, and finance. Geographically, its investments span from the Middle East and Europe to the U.S. and the Far East.
But it is their expensive “hobby” which has propelled the brothers in to the spotlight.
The boys have emerged seemingly from nowhere to become “the new superpower,” as they have been touted, in British horse racing.
Several years ago, middle brother Fahad persuaded oldest brother Hamad to establish Qatar Racing (which now has more than 300 horses in training all over the world) and Qatar Bloodstock (which owns more than 150 stallions, broodmares, and foals). Both are subsidiaries of QIPCO, which has become British racing’s biggest sponsor. Its large sponsorship portfolio includes QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot, run in October—the most lucrative racing day in Britain (drawing a $6 million purse this year).
The true royal seal of approval came early in 2015, when the Queen allowed QIPCO to become the first commercial sponsor of Royal Ascot in its 303-year history, thrusting the Al Thani brothers into the top echelon of British bloodstock owners, and society.
Sheikh Hamad, as the oldest brother, has become famous in London for his restoration of Dudley House. The family rotates between Dudley House, their palace in Doha, and various properties in France, which now include arguably Paris’s most majestic residence, the 17th-century Hôtel Lambert, on the Île Saint-Louis, which they purchased from the Rothschild family for $110 million in 2007 and are currently renovating.
These two adjacent properties, situated on the outskirts of Aley, comprise restored buildings and large grounds over approx 22,000 square metres.
Sheikha Mozah bought these properties from the Kettaneh family (the importing agents for VW and many other prestige car brands in Lebanon).
The previously public road dividing the properties is now a private road, blocking access to the entrance of the buildings.
It is believed that Sheikah Mozah also purchased many of the surrounding properties, which have now been fenced with gardens comprising fruit trees, olive trees, etc.
The new Tanios Hotel in Aley promises to be the premier hotel in the mountain region.
Purchased in 2009 for approx $12 million, Sheikha Mozah is believed to have a substantial shareholding in this project.
Owner – Sheikha Mozah
Numbers 1, 2 and 3 Cornwall Terrace, purchased in 2014 for £120 million, will be the London residence of Sheikha Mozah’s son, Sheihk Tamim, the current emir of Qatar.
The proposed plans for the property included knocking together two Grade I-listed mansions in Regent’s Park to create a 2,800 square metre palace with 17 bedrooms, 14 lounges, four dining rooms, heated swimming pool, spa, beauty parlour, gymnasium, massage areas, powder rooms, juice bar, cigar lounge, cinema, butler and nanny’s quarters, games rooms and a children’s floor.
Press reports indicate that these plans may be stalled, subject to Council approvals for the project.
The Sheikha has been criticized in the British media for apparently trying to convert these separate listed houses into one mansion — however, in a recent interview she claimed the project is Tamim’s and something she has never set eyes on.
The UK media has repeatedly named Sheikha Mozah as the official owner of the buildings.
When completed, the mansion is expected to be the most valuable residential property in London in private hands. It is expected to be worth about double the highest selling residential property in the UK – a penthouse at One Hyde Park in Knightsbridge, which sold in May 2014 for about £140 million.
Owner – QIA (Qatar Investment Authority)
This famous British department store (established in 1849) was sold by its previous owner, Egyptian magnate Mohammed Al Fayed, to the QIA in 2010, for a reported £1.5 billion.
The store has over 90,000 square metres of selling space and 330 departments, boasting up to 20 million shoppers every year.
After the sale, Sheikh Hamad was quoted as saying: “We are investing everywhere. Even your Harrods – we took it.”
The Harrods motto obviously suits these international investors:
Omnia Omnibus Ubique – All Things for All People, Everywhere.
Owner – Qatari Diar
After the 2012 London Olympics, Qatari Diar bought the Olympic Village for £557 million.
Some media reports suggested that the British government had lost around £500 million in the sale of the site and that Qatari Diar could end up making a £1 billion profit.
According to Qatari Diar: “The exciting new neighborhood will initially deliver 2,818 new homes, including 1,439 private homes mainly available to rent, and a further 1,379 affordable homes that will offer the choice of buying or renting to people with a range of income levels. The location offers residents easy access to an impressive range of amenities: 10 hectares of public space, over 30 small local shops, cafés and restaurants, and a well-equipped gym. Several buildings are completed and tenants started to move in during 2014.”
Owner – QIA (Qatar Investment Authority)
The Shard is Europe’s tallest skyscraper. QIA owns 95% of this famous landmark.
Owner – Qatari Diar
Sold by the US State Department to Qatari Diar in 2009, the Chancery Building, at 24-31 Grosvenor Square, in London’s Mayfair district, is one of the city’s most well-known addresses – formerly the site of the US embassy.
This nine-storey, 600 room building on 4,050 square metres, is globally renowned for its unique heritage-listed façade, which includes the 11 meter gilded aluminum eagle hovering above the main entrance.
Owner – Qatari Diar
Qatari Diar acquired this 52,000-square-metre former military site in 2007 from the Ministry of Defence for over £900 million, and plans to build 448 homes on the property.
According to Qatari Diar – “Chelsea Barracks sees the establishment of a unique Belgravia neighborhood that pays tribute to London’s architectural heritage. This world class master plan comprises a rare collection of apartments, penthouses and townhouses woven naturally within 52,000 sq metres of traditional garden squares and complemented by an unparalleled array of amenities including restaurants, retail outlets and a state-of-the-art spa.”
Owner – QIA (Qatar Investment Authority)
The Canary Wharf complex, including the famous One Canada Square tower, formerly the tallest in Britain, was acquired by the QIA in January 2015 for £2.6 billion.
Canary Wharf was established 25 years ago as the new financial district in London, and is home to some of the world’s biggest banks including HSBC and Barclays.
Owner – QIA (Qatar Investment Authority)
The Barclay Brothers sold these three prestige London hotels (Claridge’s, The Berkley and The Connaught) in April 2015 for a rumored £1.6 billion.
Qatar Holdings – aka QIA (Qatar Investment Authority) – bought over 20% of the London Stock Exchange in 2007. However, it has since reduced its share-holding to around 10%.
QIA (Qatar Investment Authority) became a major shareholder of Camden Market in 2008, after buying a 20% stake in property group Chelsfield.
Neither party would comment on the price Qatar paid, but one insider said estimates of £80 million were ‘exaggerated’.
Owner – Waterknights (50% share)
Half of what is reportedly the “world’s most expensive apartment block” is owned by Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, the former Qatari prime minister, through his development company Waterknights.
The property seems to be loved or loathed, tagged as both the “best address in the world” and “the ugliest building in London”.
A one bedroom house in the complex costs £3.6m and a penthouse sells for more than £130m.
Owners include:
Owner – Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani (QIPCO)
Just round the corner from One Hyde Park, is the recently renovated Dudley House – a 185 year old mansion bought for £37.4 million in 2006.
Dudley House was built in 1827 for the Dudley Ward family, but would later be used by Edward VII, who would meet his mistress Lillie Langtry there in secret (gasp! scandal!).
It boasts 17 bedrooms, an actual ballroom and, with its lavish renovations now complete, a £200 million-plus price tag.
The furniture, antiques and artwork in the house are worth in excess of £100 million.
Although widely reported by the British and international press that the property was bought by the former emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Dudley House was, in fact, bought and restored by his nephew’s company QIPCO.
GreenTitles.com is pleased to finally set the record straight.