Qatar investor snaps up London’s W Hotel in deal

The developer of London’s W Hotel, a site that includes the European flagship store of Mars’s M&M’s, has agreed to sell the property for about £200m ($313m.) McAleer & Rushe said the 10-story building on Leicester Square will be bought by an unnamed investor based in Qatar, according to a statement today from the Cookstown, Northern Ireland-based company. McAleer & Rushe acquired the former site of the Swiss Centre in 2004 from British Land Co for £47m. The developer built a 192-bedroom hotel, luxury apartments, a gymnasium and 35,000 sq ft M&M’s store on the land. The hotel also houses a branch of chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Spice Market restaurant. Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. and Steerforth Partners advised on the sale. The deal marks the latest in a series of investments in British assets by Qatari buyers. The Gulf state’s wealth fund counts luxury London department store Harrods and stakes in Barclays, retailer J Sainsbury’s and the London Stock Exchange among its investments. Qatari Diar, Qatar Investment Authority’s property arm, in August announced it had won a bid to buy London’s Olympic Village in a £557m in a joint deal with the UK developer Delancey. The gas-rich emirate last month denied media reports it was close to a deal to take over the world-famous Silverstone racing circuit in the UK.