Qatari Diar throws in bid for London’s Olympic village

Qatari Diar, the real estate arm of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, has joined the race to buy and manage half of the Olympic Village in London.

The state-owned firm plans to submit a joint bid with British property developer Delancey to buy up around half of the 2,800 homes at the village, together with an adjacent plot of land with the potential for further 2,000 – 2,500 new homes.

The pair will compete against eight other bid groups for the contract, overseen by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), which would require the firms to deliver 2,818 new homes for East London after the 2012 Games.

About 1,300 of the new homes have been bought by Triathlon Homes for £270m (about $419m) and are designated to become affordable housing.

The ODA owns the remaining 1,439 homes which will become private housing, plus six future development plots in the Village site.

It expects to earn around £500m ($775m) from the deal.

ODA chief executive David Higgins told reporters: “The quality of this shortlist is a vote of confidence in the quality of the Olympic Village. Securing a shortlist with many of the leading property investors and managers both in the UK and around the world takes us an important step towards ensuring the Village becomes one of the strongest legacies from the Games.”

If successful, the Village would become the latest asset in Qatar's London property portfolio. The gas-rich Gulf state already own assets such as London Bridge Tower, Chelsea Barracks and the US embassy building in Grosvenor Square.

The full bid list includes Dorrington & Pinnacle Capital; Galliard Homes; Grainger plc & Moorfield Group; Aviva plc & J.P. Morgan and David Wilson & Sir Robert McAlpine.

The shortlisted bidders will submit formal offers next spring.