Qataris set to take over Olympic Village after London 2012

By Duncan Mackay

July 18 - A consortium of Delancey and Qatari Diar have begun exclusive talks with the Government to take over the Olympic Village after London 2012, it has been reported.

Minsiters have accepted a recommendation from the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), which is deciding on a shortlist of three to buy the 1,439 homes that are part of the athletes' accommodation, to work exclusively with the joint consortium, the Financial Times reported. 

Delancey are a London-based specialist real estate investment run by Jamie Ritblat, while Qatari Diar, the sovereign real estate arm of the Qatari Royal Family, specialising in local and foreign investment, founded six years ago to manage the extra oil and natural gas surpluses that the Qatar Government were receiving.

Qatari Diar is estimated to hold in excess of $60 billion (£37 billion) of assets.

In Britain their assets already include Harrods, Chelsea Barracks, and 15.1 per cent of the London Stock Exchange.

The company has also been linked with a takeover of Premier League champions Manchester United.

The Government has invested £650 million ($1.04 billion) in the development of the Olympic Village and is hoping to raise at least £500 million ($804 billion) from the sale.

The decision could signal the end of a £1 billion ($1.6 billion) offer from The Wellcome Trust for the entire Olympic Park as the ODA will no longer engage with the other bidders, which also include Hong Kong-listed Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.

The three firms had been shortlisted by the ODA in April. 

If the talks are successful, Delancey and Qatari Diar will take over the Olympic Village along with a further six plots that could house another 2,000 units, plus parkland the size of St James's Park.

The other 1,379 new homes to be built on the site of the Athletes' Village were purchased by joint-venture group Triathlon Homes in 2009.

Wellcome Trust, the medical research charity, had launched a bid for the freehold of the Olympic Park, including the Village and turning the media centre into a life sciences centre that would house two univerisities. 

The offer also included taking over the Olympic Stadium, currently at the centre of a controversial row after it was given to West Ham United, a decision Premier League Tottenham Hotspur are taking legal action over, and the Aquatics Centre. 

They had made clear during discussions with the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) that the deal was dependant on gaining control of the Olympic Village, whose future is controlled by the ODA.

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April 2011: ODA invite trio to submit final offers for Olympic Village
March 2011: IOC praise "excellent progress" on Olympic Village as first residential plot is completed
January 2011: "Big-build" workforce for Olympic Park and Village now tops 12,000
December 2010: Qataris want to add London 2012 Olympic Village to Harrods
June 2010: London 2012 Olympic Village still on course