Dubai investment firm Legatum buys DIFC building

Dubai-based investment firm Legatum Group has bought Precinct Building 6 at Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), which will serve as the company’s new global headquarters, it was announced on Tuesday. “The nine-level building will be renamed Legatum Plaza and is located in the prestigious Gate Precinct of the DIFC,” the company announced on its website. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. “Legatum was one of the earliest registrants at the DIFC in 2004 and this investment is an expression of Legatum’s long-standing belief in the success of Dubai and the DIFC as a world-class home for international finance,” the statement added. DIFC is aiming for 100 percent growth over the next five years, the CEO of DIFC Authority said in February as he announced a seven percent growth in the number of companies located within the free zone in 2011. “The centre does have the potential to double in size in the next five years because of the rate of progression we have seen so far,” said Abdulla Mohammed Al Awar, CEO of DIFC Authority. The authority reported that the number of companies registered in the free zone rose to 848 as of December 31. An additional 1m sq ft of commercial space came on stream in DIFC, with the volume of leased space rising 14 percent to around 2.13m square feet. With occupancy rates averaging around 95 percent in DIFC-owned office buildings and 72 percent in third party-owned developments, Al Awar was confident DIFC Authority could achieve its goal to double in size by 2016. “The 110 acres, the amount of parcels that have catered to be commercial has the capacity to do that. We just have to make sure we are promoting the centre in the right manner for the institutions to occupy,” he said. In a sign of changing global demographics, the DIFC Authority reported that 37 percent of companies originated from the Middle East and Asia exactly the same proportion of firms which were based in Europe. Al Awar reported the number of staff employed in the free zone last year rose to around 12,000, a rise of over ten percent since 2010.