As big players from Brunei bid to buy Queensway, Jonathan Prynn on how the gas-rich state and its equally small but powerful Gulf rival, Qatar, are taking over the capital’s top property assets (source: Evening Standard)

Investors from the sultanate — which has a population that would barely fill Bristol — have emerged as the main backers of a £1 billion scheme to snap up the whole of Queensway in west London’s Bayswater.

It is not the country’s first foray into prime London property — the Brunei Investment Agency already owns the Dorchester Hotel in Mayfair and its sister hotel 45 Park Lane, and more purchases are expected.

Both countries were once coloured pink as mini-possessions within the British Empire. Qatar was a British protectorate until 1971 while Brunei gained independence in 1984. Now the two former colonial outposts — the 100-mile long Arabian peninsula and the even teenier fragment of a south-east Asian island — are carving up the capital of the country they once called the motherland.

How big — or small — is it?

Qatar
About half the size of Wales, with a population a quarter of London’s. More than 90 per cent is barren, featureless desert and half of its people are crammed into the capital, Doha, on the east coast.

Brunei
Minuscule — makes Qatar look like a geographical colossus. Covers an area no bigger than Norfolk and is mainly dense tropical rainforest. The capital is Bandar Seri Begawan.

Could you find it on a map?

Qatar
Not easy. But see the bit sticking out into the Arabian Gulf just below Bahrain and opposite Iran? It’s there.

Brunei
Even harder. Often confused with Bahrain, or Bhutan. It occupies two unconnected slivers on the coast of Borneo, the biggest island of the Indonesian archipelago, east of Singapore. First find Borneo, then zoom in on its Malaysian half. See the enclave on the north coast? That’s it.

Who runs it?

Qatar
One extended family. The Harrow and Sandhurst-educated eighth Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, took over the throne occupied by his dynasty since 1825 when his father unexpectedly abdicated in June. The seventh Sheikh, said to be worth about £2 billion, had earned the nickname “London’s landlord” because of the extraordinary buying spree during his reign that was largely orchestrated by his second cousin  — former Qatari prime minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani. The ex-PM is said to own a triplex apartment at the top of one of the towers of One Hyde Park, the luxury block largely funded with Qatari money.

Brunei
Like Qatar, it is a family affair. The ruler is the 29th Sultan, Hassanal Bolkiah, who is also its first prime minister, and, yes, also trained at Sandhurst. As in Qatar he got the gig when his father abdicated, although in his case it was in 1967. Lives a life of unfathomable opulence with his wife Pengiran Anak Saleha in the 17,888-room Istana Nurul Iman palace, said to be the biggest single family residence ever built. His personal fortune is estimated at more than £10 billion, making him the world’s second richest head of state.

What do they own in London?

Qatar
The Qatari state shopping bag has been filled with such a remarkable collection of prizes that it has earned the capital the nickname Londoha. As well as its most famous department store, its tallest building and its most expensive block of flats, Qatari wealth was behind the Olympic Village, the £1 billion Chelsea Barracks site, the Canary Wharf property empire that includes the Docklands financial district, the Walkie Talkie tower in the City and the Shell Centre on the Thames. The Qatari Investment Authority also has a 20 per cent holding in the London Stock Exchange and, through its ownership of a 20 per cent stake in property company Chelsfield, interests in Camden Market and the former Commonwealth Institute building in Kensington.

Brunei
Mere window shoppers compared with the Qataris — for now. Little is known about the activities of the Brunei Investment Agency. Its best known London asset is the Dorchester hotel, which includes the three Michelin-starred Alain Ducasse restaurant, bought in 1987. It also owns nearby boutique hotel 45 Park Lane, home to Wolfgang Puck’s CUT restaurant. The Sultan’s younger brother Prince Jefri once owned the Bond Street jeweller Asprey. It emerged this week that Brunei money is behind the extraordinary swoop on Queensway, the half-mile-long drag in Bayswater developers want to turn into a smart new “Covent Garden of the west”. The Sultan has denied any direct involvement and the money is rumoured to have come from one of his ex-wives, London-based former stewardess Hajah Mariam.

Where do they get their money from?

Qatar
Qatar sits on 14 per cent of the world’s natural gas reserves, third behind only Russia and Iran. Annual production of more than 157 billion cubic meters gives the Qataris a financial firepower that can outgun countries many times its size. It’s also a major oil producer but it won’t last for ever, and Qatar is reinvesting its revenues in timeless assets, such as London property, that will be around when the wells run dry.

Brunei
Ditto but on a slightly smaller scale. It is the fourth-largest producer of liquefied natural gas in the world at around 10 billion cubic metres a year and is the third biggest oil producer in south-east Asia. But proven oil and gas reserves will start to run out over the coming 30 to 40 years. Oil and gas accounts for 50 per cent of GDP and 90 per cent of exports. Buying up swathes of London might look an attractive diversification.

Should we worry?

Qatar
The Qataris like to keep a low profile and are usually seen as good long- term investors. They are sensitive to criticism — state-owned developer Qatari Diar withdrew its Richard Rogers-designed plans for Chelsea Barracks when Prince Charles wrote to his friend and then Qatari prime minister to complain.
A more irritating side to the Qatari love affair with London are the lurid “glow in the dark” supercars that junior members of the Thani family like to put through their paces on the streets of Knightsbridge.
Although Qatar’s human rights record is far from the worst in the Gulf region, there are concerns. The world’s largest trade union confederation, ITUC, has said the conditions of the migrant workers who represent 90 per cent of Qatar’s labour force were close to “modern-day slavery”.

Brunei
Even more camera-shy than the Qataris. The country is stable but most of the bad headlines of recent years have been generated by the Sultan’s “black sheep” younger brother, Prince Jefri , whose almost comically extravagant playboy lifestyle led him to being virtually exiled from Brunei. The father of 18 was said to be burning through $50 million a month at the height of his spending and owned five yachts, one named Tits, with tenders called Nipple One and Nipple Two.
The Sultan is effectively an absolute monarch and political rights are extremely restricted under a 1962 state of emergency which is still in existence today. However, his regime is seen as largely benign and abuses of human rights are rare.

Useless fact

Qatar
One of the worst places in the world for men to look for female love. Huge influxes of migrant workers mean three-quarters of the population are men, of whom two-thirds, not surprisingly, are officially classified at bachelors.

Brunei
Brunei has the world’s highest level of car ownership, with 691 cars per 1,000 people. The average is lifted a bit by the Sultan, who owns around 5,000 vehicles, including 130 Rolls-Royces.