The state of Qatar alone, not counting individual royals' personal holdings, is the 10th largest landowner in the UK, according to analysts at MSCI Real Assets. The emirate owns nearly 2.1m sq metres (23m sq feet) of property in Britain, more than 1.5 times the area of London's Hyde Park.
Canary Wharf Group Investment Holdings, which is majority owned by Qatar Holdings, is London's largest property owner, with almost 21.5m sq ft of space on its books, according to data from the research firm Datscha.
Assets in the UK include Harrods, which Qatar bought in 2010, a 20% stake in London Heathrow, and 25% ownership of British Airways's parent company IAG . Qatar-backed entities have also snapped up property assets including Canary Wharf, HSBC Tower and The Shard.
In 2017, BBC reported that Qatar owns more properties in London than the Queen. The amount of properties in London owned by Qatari individuals has increased by approximately 50% between 2018 and 2021, according to analysis by Alford Hughes Qatar.
The airport is owned and operated by Heathrow Airport Holdings, owned mostly by FGP and Qatar Investment Authority and CDPQ.. In 2022, it was the second-busiest airport in the world by international passenger traffic and the busiest airport in Europe as per March 2023.
What does Qatar own around the world? | CNBC Explains
Does Qatar own Sainsbury?
Sainsbury's and Argos
The supermarket chain alone has 600 stores across the UK and 40 in Greater Manchester. With a 14.9 per cent share of J Sainsbury's PLC, Qatar's stake dwarves that of investment giant BlackRock, who own 6 per cent of the company.
Heathrow Airport boasts a diverse group of stakeholders with the Spanish firm Ferrovial currently holding the largest share at 25 per cent. The ownership structure also includes Qatar Investment Authority holding a 20 per cent stake and China Investment Corporation with 10 per cent.
From the Harrods department store, the Ritz hotel and a significant chunk of Heathrow Airport, to an industrial unit in the West Sussex town of Crawley and an Essex farm, Qatar and its citizens have amassed UK assets and influence via the vast wealth – and disposable income – generated by its huge North Field gas ...
Harrods is a British luxury department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It is owned by Harrods Ltd, a company currently owned by the state of Qatar via its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority as part of Qatar's global soft power strategy.
Qatar had previously been a protectorate under Great Britain, declaring independence on September 3, 1971, following the termination date of treaties with Great Britain.
The UK and Qatar signed a new Strategic Investment Partnership (SIP) which will see Qatar invest up to £10 billion over the next five years in key sectors of the UK economy, including fintech, zero emissions vehicles, life sciences and cyber security.
The state of Qatar's holdings in Scotland are worth £14.3m. This includes Cluny Estate, near Laggan, and its fishing rights, at a total value of £7.3m. Qatar also owns Eilean Aigas Estate, which is on a private island near Beauly, valued at £7m.
As noble Lords may be aware, 20,000 British nationals live and work in Qatar, and the UK is a second home to many Qataris. In 2019, prior to the pandemic, there were a record 175,000 visits from Qatar to the UK, worth more than £0.5 billion to the UK economy.
According to The Times, the Savoy is part-owned by Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, the Ritz was bought by a Qatari businessman who is the brother-in-law of Qatar's rulers in 2020, and the Connaught is owned by Hamad bin Jassim, who was Qatar's prime minister when Hamas relocated to Doha.
Qatar's sovereign wealth fund has sold more than one-third of its stake in Barclays for £510m, marking its biggest sale of shares in the UK bank since piling in to help it avert a UK state rescue in 2008.
As of 2021, the largest overall shareholder is the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar, the Qatar Investment Authority, which holds 14.99% of the company. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
Qatari royals own dozens of multimillion-pound mansions across London, none more jaw-dropping than Forbes House, owned by former prime minister Hamad bin Jassim (HBJ). His planned renovations are expected to turn the property into London's first £300m home.
"Little Doha" is the nickname given to an area of Mayfair in central London that has a high concentration of properties owned by the Al-Thani family, the ruling family of Qatar, and their relatives and associates. By 2006, Qatari interests owned £1 billion of property in London, and a quarter of Mayfair's 279 acres.
Heathrow Airport Holdings Limited is in turn owned by FGP Topco Limited, a consortium owned and led by the infrastructure specialist Ferrovial S.A. (25.00%), Qatar Investment Authority (20.00%), Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) (12.62%), GIC (11.20%), Australian Retirement Trust (11.18%), China Investment ...
The exploration of oil and gas fields began in 1939. In 1973, oil production and revenues increased dramatically, moving Qatar out of the ranks of the world's poorest countries and providing it with one of the highest per capita incomes in the world.
In October 2012, 10% of Heathrow Airport was sold to the China Investment Corporation - China's sovereign wealth fund. The deal took ownership of Britain's busiest airport to more than 40% controlled by the Chinese, Qatari and Singaporean governments.
The airline currently operates a fleet of more than 200 aircraft. Qatar Airways Group employs more than 43,000 people. The carrier has been a member of the Oneworld alliance since October 2013, and the official company slogan has been "Going Places Together" since 2015.
These have often been built at different times, with larger airports introduced further from the city as aviation volume increased. They can also serve different regional areas. Doha, Qatar, is slightly unusual in that it has two large airports adjacent to each other to the southwest of the city.
