Qatari Diar

The United States has agreed to sell its embassy building in Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, to Qatari Diar, the sovereign wealth-backed developer, for an undisclosed sum.

The US State Department said that it will sell the Chancery building, home to the US Embassy in Britain for almost half a century, to the property investment company owned by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).

The building was worth an estimated £500 million at the peak of the market in July 2007 when Qatari Diar was first linked with a possible purchase. However, the building is now thought to be worth less after a 45 per cent decline in commercial property values.

GULF TIMES DTD:29.10.09
Barwa Bank has made a soft launch with it participating in Qatari Diar’s loan syndication and inching closer to acquire First Finance Company (FFC).
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The main branch, located at Doha’s Grand Hamad Street, will have both gents and ladies branches and offer current, savings and fixed deposit accounts with a view to rolling out a range of innovative banking products and services in the coming months, said its spokesman.
Customers can currently access bank services via ATM, mobile phone banking, e-banking and 24 hour customer call centre.
Established with an authorised capital of QAR1bn, Barwa Bank is licensed and regulated by the Qatar Central Bank and is a fully owned subsidiary of Barwa Real Estate Company.

Vodafone to launch fixed line phone service next year
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Vodafone Qatar will launch its fixed line services next year. The telecommunications company yesterday said it was in talks with major developers here to be their exclusive fixed line provider once its licence application was approved.

Michael Portz, Chief Marketing Officer of Vodafone Qatar, said, however, that it still hadn’t been decided whether the fixed line services will start early or late next year.

Portz said Vodafone Qatar was in talks with some of the country’s leading real estate developers, including Qatari Diar and the United Development Company (UDC), to be the exclusive fixed line provider in their projects.