The Qatar Investment Authority’s stake in Credit Suisse Group AG isn’t the sovereign wealth fund’s only source of pain following UBS Group AG’s cut-price acquisition. It is also the bank’s major landlord in London.
QIA directly owns 1 Cabot Square where Credit Suisse has a lease until 2034, as well as owning half of Canary Wharf Group, the landlord that owns and manages much of the rest of the east London financial district. While UBS will assume liability for that lease after buying its rival, the demise of Credit Suisse is another blow to the sovereign wealth fund and what were once the crown jewels of its real estate portfolio.
Representatives for QIA and Canary Wharf declined to comment.
QIA has previously sought to sell 1 Cabot Square, which it acquired for about £330 million ($402 million) pounds in 2012. It agreed initial terms to sell it to Korea’s KB Securities for £460 million in 2018, but that deal never completed.
UBS has outlined swinging cost cuts for Credit Suisse which are likely to result in severe job losses at its investment bank, much of which is based in 1 Cabot Square. Still, UBS has recently subleased some vacant space in its own London headquarters at 5 Broadgate, limiting its ability to absorb those that retain their jobs within its own office estate.
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