The hypermarkets operator Lulu Group International has paid £110 million (Dh626.6m) for Great Scotland Yard in London as the company expands into hotel development.
It plans to turn the former headquarters of the Metropolitan Police (between 1829 and 1890) into a luxury hotel.
The deal includes an adjoining listed Victorian town house that would be designed as an entertainment suite for the hotel.
Lulu in April emerged as the front runner to acquire the Edwardian property in Whitehall.
“The future growth markets for us in the hospitality sector includes Britain, Middle East, India and South East Asia,” said a Lulu spokesman. “Since we are now firmly established in the retail sector, we want to diversify into the hospitality sector as these two are complementary.”
Lulu expects to open hypermarkets in Malaysia and Indonesia towards year-end.
It currently runs 117 retail outlets in the Middle East and India.
The 233-room hotel at Great Scotland Yard is expected to open in the first quarter of 2017. Lulu bought the property from the London-based property developer Galliard Homes.
Although the property will retain its Edwardian brick-and-stone facade, it will undergo a £50m interior refurbishment. Construction work is about 30 per cent complete, while the interior work is expected to start in March.
The hotel will employ 250 full-time staff.
“The entire insides of the building have been ripped out, and Galliard Homes has dug down two levels underground to create a vast basement complex under the building,” said Don O’Sullivan, the managing director of Galliard Construction.
“The building is also being extended to the rear and increased by several floors. This is a huge redevelopment project.”
The Frankfurt-based Steigenberger Hotel Group will manage the seven-storey hotel with two basement levels. It will also manage Lulu’s first hotel in Dubai’s Business Bay, which is expected to open in October.
In London, the 92,000 square feet five-star hotel will occupy a space where police had conducted investigations into the serial killings attributed to Jack the Ripper. The hotel would mark Steigenberger’s entry into London’s hospitality market.
The property is near 10 Downing Street and Trafalgar Square.
The London-based Malmaison & Hotel du Vin group was in the race to buy the property for £200m last September before the talks broke down, according to UK media reports. Galliard Homes said the talks broke down after the Malmaison hotel group changed ownership but denied that the value being negotiated was £200m.
Frasers Hospitality UK Holdings acquired the group in June.
Lulu Group International owns four hotels in India and one in Muscat. Its Grand Hyatt hotel in Kochi, India, is expected to open next year. When the Indian billionaire M A Yusuff Ali, the group’s founder and managing director, opens the London hotel in 2017, Lulu would join a niche but lucrative and competitive luxury hotel market. Currently, luxury hotels provide 14,900 of 129,000 rooms in the British capital, or 12 per cent of the total room count, according to a report from HVS Consulting & Valuation Services last year.
Among them are the 85-room Bulgari Hotel, which opened in 2012 in Knightsbridge, and the 202-room Shangri-La, which opened last year in Southwark.
With a number of new openings in the luxury segment scheduled to enter the market, the segment’s performance could come under pressure, said the report. “Investment appetite for luxury hotels remains strong with investors staying focused long-term, owing to high acquisition and/or development costs,” it said.
Joint Treasure International, a Hong Kong-based private equity firm, bought the 237-room Marriott Grosvenor Square for £125m last year.
ssahoo@thenational.ae
Follow The National's Business section on Twitter
Where to donate in the UAE
The Emirates Charity Portal
You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.
The General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments
The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Al Noor Special Needs Centre
You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.
Beit Al Khair Society
Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.
Dar Al Ber Society
Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.
Dubai Cares
Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.
Emirates Airline Foundation
Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.
Emirates Red Crescent
On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.
Gulf for Good
Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.
Noor Dubai Foundation
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAlmouneer%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202017%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dr%20Noha%20Khater%20and%20Rania%20Kadry%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EEgypt%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E120%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBootstrapped%2C%20with%20support%20from%20Insead%20and%20Egyptian%20government%2C%20seed%20round%20of%20%3Cbr%3E%243.6%20million%20led%20by%20Global%20Ventures%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
LIST OF INVITEES
Shergo Kurdi (am)
Rayhan Thomas
Saud Al Sharee (am)
Min Woo Lee
Todd Clements
Matthew Jordan
AbdulRahman Al Mansour (am)
Matteo Manassero
Alfie Plant
Othman Al Mulla
Shaun Norris
How to donate
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20WonderTree%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20April%202016%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECo-founders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Muhammad%20Waqas%20and%20Muhammad%20Usman%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Karachi%2C%20Pakistan%2C%20Abu%20Dhabi%2C%20UAE%2C%20and%20Delaware%2C%20US%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Special%20education%2C%20education%20technology%2C%20assistive%20technology%2C%20augmented%20reality%3Cbr%3EN%3Cstrong%3Eumber%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E16%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EGrowth%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Grants%20from%20the%20Lego%20Foundation%2C%20UAE's%20Anjal%20Z%2C%20Unicef%2C%20Pakistan's%20Ignite%20National%20Technology%20Fund%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.