Qatar seals London Wall buy

PROPERTY entrepreneur Vincent Tchenguiz's vehicle Consensus has fronted a deal for the Qatar government to buy 60 London Wall - the British headquarters of Dutch bank ING - from Scottish Widows.

Consensus is understood to have arranged the deal and looked after the financial aspects, and will manage the property on behalf of the Qatar government.

Consensus also includes other divisions concerned with finance and procurement, as well as having a 50% share in Rotch Property Group, which is half-owned by Vincent's brother Robert and holds many of the brothers' mainstream property investments.

Earlier this year, they had a tilt at Selfridges, which was eventually sold to Canadian billionaire Galen Weston. Accounts filed in August showed that Rotch lost £21m on turnover of £46.5m.

Sixty London Wall is seen as a straight forward, securely let investment, where the purchaser was attracted by the strength of the income stream and the location.

There are 13 years remaining on the lease to ING, and the deal reflects an initial yield of about 7%. Jones Lang LaSalle is advising Scottish Widows.

The Tchenguiz-fronted deal is a first for the oil-rich Gulf state of Qatar on the London market. The state government has never been active in the London commercial property market, unlike overseas governments such as Singapore, Kuwait and Brunei.

It has become one of the richest states in the world on the back of wealth derived from oil and gas revenues. Its gross domestic product per head has grown from $19,780 in 1999 to an estimated $123,000 in 2002.

Reit Asset Management, which invests on behalf of Leo Noe, has been selected as preferred bidder for Taylor Woodrow's St Katharine's Dock complex near Tower Bridge. It is believed to have bid about £290m for the estate, plus the adjacent 173,000 square foot K2 office scheme, which has been pre-let to actuary William Mercer.