CONTACTCONTACTThe transaction marks Aldar's first acquisition outside the MENA region, reflecting its strategic move to bolster scale, broaden market reach, and diversify revenue streams.
Aldar places the United Kingdom – and London Square – at the forefront of its international expansion strategy beyond the region, capitalising on both the UK market’s and London Square’s strong fundamentals.
London Square, a premier and leading residential and mixed-use developer operating primarily across Greater London, has a diversified portfolio and delivers homes of all tenures, including as a registered provider of affordable housing, a key operating segment for London Square.
The deal will provide strong opportunities for synergy creation, knowledge sharing, cross-border sales and investment flow, and elevating Aldar’s brand recognition internationally.
London, UK – 30 November 2023: Aldar Properties (Aldar), the leading real estate developer, investor, and manager in the UAE – listed on Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange with a market capitalisation of GBP 10 billion – has completed the 100% acquisition of London-based developer, London Square, signalling its first international acquisition beyond the MENA region.
The acquisition, representing an enterprise value of GBP 230 million (AED 1.07 billion), is aligned with Aldar's strategic vision of expanding into key and mature international markets. The move is aimed at accelerating growth, diversifying revenue streams, unlocking synergies, and driving cross-selling opportunities. By exporting its expertise to the UK market through the acquisition of an established and reputable operating platform, Aldar will gain a meaningful foothold in the diverse and dynamic London property market, known for its resilience and enduring appeal to both local and international investors.
Aldar and London Square have a shared vision and approach to creating world-class developments, anchored in high quality design, sustainability, and customer service excellence. Moreover, this transaction represents a new phase of growth for both entities and will provide two-way benefits, delivering a positive impact for communities and bringing new opportunities to the customers each company serves.
By combining capabilities and talents, the acquisition equally paves the way for a new phase of growth for both entities. Aldar intends to leverage its expertise and balance sheet to support London Square’s land acquisition strategy to enable it to develop larger and prime central London sites. Additionally, the transaction is expected to have a positive impact on sales, given the potential for capitalizing on cross-selling across both companies' diverse international customer networks, with Aldar’s development sales during the first 9 months of 2023 totalling GBP 4.15 billion (AED 19.4 billion).
London Square and Aldar are a complementary fit, with both entities’ businesses highly compatible on several fronts including robust governance, corporate culture, development quality and brand reputation. The company’s seasoned management team and well-established industry relationships, together with its strong commitment to sustainability, customer-centricity and shared values further reinforce the compatibility and synergy with Aldar.
Founded on driving growth, knowledge sharing, strong returns, and market leadership, the acquisition represents a strong vote of confidence in London Square’s expert management team and business model. While it also recognises the company’s track record of securing planning consent – leveraging its strong relationship with local authorities – and extensive experience in delivering complex brownfield sites and building homes across all tenures of the highest quality and design.
Talal Al Dhiyebi, Group Chief Executive Officer of Aldar Properties said: “Our recently announced international expansion strategy centres on exploring opportunities to acquire or partner with established operating platforms in our target markets. The acquisition of London Square represents our first market entry outside of the region, and is a testament to the company’s management team, governance framework, and business model which has consistently delivered strong performance. The transaction, which is synergistic in nature, gives us the ability to leverage our mutual strengths, shared values, and common approach to homebuilding to scale London Square while bringing the best of Aldar to bear in the UK’s property market, as we continue to build our foothold outside of the region.”
Talal Al Dhiyebi, Group Chief Executive Officer of Aldar Properties
Adam Lawrence, Founder and Chief Executive of London Square said: "This is an outstanding outcome for London Square. Aldar is an exemplary company with an unrivalled reputation and their strength and breadth of knowledge and experience will enable London Square to flourish and extend its presence across Greater London and the Southeast. Since establishing London Square in 2010, the company has enjoyed significant organic growth, with the support of Ares Management funds for the past nine years. We would like to thank Ares Management for their contribution to the success of London Square. Becoming part of Aldar is the beginning of an exciting new chapter for the future of London Square. We look forward to playing a leading role in tackling the housing shortage by providing more much-needed homes in the capital and surrounding areas where there is a continuing lack of supply.”
Adam Lawrence, Founder and Chief Executive of London Square
Aldar is the largest real estate group in Abu Dhabi, and one of the largest, most recognised and trusted master developers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Following Aldar's recent expansion into the neighbouring Emirates of Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah and presence in Egypt, the acquisition is an extension of Aldar’s vision to expand its footprint, with the UK serving as the foundation for Aldar’s expansion into key international markets beyond the MENA region.
With a diversified and sustainable operating model centred around two core businesses – Aldar Development and Aldar Investment – Aldar is a master developer, with a 69 million square metre landbank, renowned for shaping Abu Dhabi’s real estate landscape and creating world-class, integrated and sustainability-focused communities in the most desirable destinations across its operations in Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah, Dubai, and Egypt.
Aldar’s extensive expertise in homebuilding, development and active asset management – with a diversified GBP 7.5 billion AUM portfolio of investment grade and income-generating assets diversified across retail, residential, commercial, hospitality, and logistics – will reinforce London Square’s exceptional track record of securing planning consent. By doing so, Aldar intends to optimise London Square’s land acquisition strategy and planning in order to deliver additional world-class mixed-use development schemes across the capital for the benefit of each companies’ complementary customer base.
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