Founded 1995 | ||
Delancey Real Estate Asset Management Limited is a British property development company that with the Qatari ruling family in 2011 bought the Olympic Village used in the London 2012 Olympic Games. The area has been renamed the East Village.
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History
The firm was founded by Jamie Ritblat, son of Sir John Ritblat, after Jamie Ritblat left British Land in 1995. It was formerly quoted but in 2001 went private again after a share buyback.
Recent news
In May 2015, Minerva, the real estate investment and development group established by funds owned by Ares Management and Delancey, revealed it had sold the Walbrook Building to Taiwan-based Cathay Life for a fee of £575 million.
In April 2015, Delancey formed a joint venture with LRC Group in a project to redevelop the Royal Mint Court office near the Tower of London. The deal followed long-lasting negotiations after LRC acquired a loan secured on the site’s leasehold in May 2014. Delancey’s DV4 fund had owned the freehold interest since 2010.
In February 2015, Delancey revealed it was poised to sell its 102,000 square foot office at scheme at Orchard Brae House in Edinburgh as the firm looked to capitalise on numerous leasing deals at the building in the preceding 12 months. In January 2015, Delancey and commercial property developer Barwood partnered together to launch a new industrial and logistics developer, with the aim of providing competition to its rival firms like SEGRO and Prologis in the sheds market.
In May 2012, Delancey advised Brazilian business magnate Moise Safra on his £500 million purchase of an office building in London’s financial district from the consortium, One Plantation Place Unit Trust.
In 2011, Delancey and Qatari-owned Qatar Diar acquired 1,400 apartments in the Olympic Village area near the venue of the London 2012 Olympics for a fee of £557 million. The acquisition attracted some controversy as it occurred during the time of the economic crisis, with the property market at a low point. Built to house 23,000 athletes and officials during the games, the properties were sold to Delancey and Qatar Diar before the games had even started. The profit gained on the properties could be in excess of £1 billion, according to the Daily Mail newspaper in the UK.
Also during the Olympics, Delancey’s joint venture with Infinty SDC, ICITY, was contracted to convert the Olympic broadcast and press centre into a tech hub for corporations, with BT Group as the first major tenant.