Saad al-Saad

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.

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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.

BARWA’S integrated and modern labour city, Barwa Al Baraha, is to be ready by 2011, its CEO Ibrahim al-Fakhroo said.
Fakhroo said: “The work will be finished in 24 months after the contract is given.”
The contract is expected to be awarded in two months.
The labour city is being built as the second phase of Barwa Al Baraha. The first phase, a truck parking facility, was opened yesterday.
The Barwa Al Baraha project is the company’s innovative solution to address one of the challenges posed by Qatar’s current economic boom, chairman and managing director of Barwa Real Estate Ghanim bin Saad al-Saad said.
“Expatriate workers have become an essential part of our society, especially during the unprecedented prosperity of the Qatari economy.