Canary Wharf Group plc is a British property company headquartered in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England. It is the owner and developer of nearly of property at

Canary Wharf Canary Wharf is a financial area of London, England, located in the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The Greater London Authority defines it as part of London's central business district, alongside Central London. Alongside ...

and elsewhere in London. Over the last 10 years it has constructed more office space in London than any other developer. The group owns of property which is worth £4.9 billion, of which 95.6% was let as of 30 June 2012.

History

The company was formed in 1993 as Canary Wharf Limited to acquire the former assets of Olympia and York from its administrator.Canary Wharf Group website: History
In December 1995, the company was acquired by an international consortium, including Olympia and York founder Paul Reichmann. In April 1999, the company floated on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

. In 2004, a majority of the company was acquired by Glick Family Investments and

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...

using an

investment vehicle An investment fund is a way of investing money alongside other investors in order to benefit from the inherent advantages of working as part of a group such as reducing the risks of the investment by a significant percentage. These advantages inc ...

company called Songbird Acquisitions, which was later taken over by

China Investment Corporation China Investment Corporation (CIC) is a sovereign wealth fund that manages part of China's foreign exchange reserves. China's largest sovereign fund, CIC was established in 2007 with about US$200 billion of assets under management. In Mar ...

. In 2015, Brookfield Properties and

Qatar Investment Authority The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA; ) is Qatar's sovereign wealth fund. The QIA was founded by the State of Qatar in 2005 to strengthen the country's economy by diversifying into new asset classes. In November 2024, the QIA had an estimated $526 ...

took over Canary Wharf Group for £2.6 billion. Songbird was delisted following the takeover.

Structure

The group owns Canary Wharf Contractors, a business which has built most of the buildings at

. The Canary Wharf Group has also launched Vertus, a build-to-rent arm with properties under development in Canary Wharf.

Relationship with Transport for London

Several large transport projects have been constructed which link to

, including the Jubilee Line Extension and

Crossrail Crossrail is a completed railway project centred on London. It provides a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system, akin to the Réseau Express Régional, RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries, kn ...

. The Canary Wharf Group agreed to pay £500m over 24 years towards the £3.5bn cost of the Jubilee Line extension. The payment was reduced by at least £25m because the line was unable to run at the capacity agreed. Canary Wharf Group built the Canary Wharf railway station for Crossrail at a cost of around £500m, contributing £150m towards the station cost. The links between Canary Wharf Group and

Transport for London Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...

remain strong, with Canary Wharf's Finance Director Peter Anderson previously on the board of Transport for London and chairing its finance and policy committee. The Canary Wharf Group has consistently campaigned against the now defunct Cycle Superhighway routes. In 2014, the Group opposed two cycle routes dubbed "Crossrail for bikes" by anonymously distributing a briefing paper claiming the project would be "extremely damaging to London". In 2018, Canary Wharf Group were a founding member of Unblock the Embankment, a campaign to remove a segregated cycle route along the Embankment.

Property portfolio

Notable property addresses are: Outside Canary Wharf itself, CWG also developed 20 Fenchurch Street and is redeveloping the Shell Centre site in central London.

References

External links