Battersea Power Station to be sold for £1.6bn
Malaysian investors buying iconic building in UK’s ‘biggest ever’ property deal
London’s landmark Battersea Power Station is to be sold to two Malaysian firms for £1.6bn in the UK’s largest ever property deal.
Malaysian sovereign wealth funds Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PMB) and Employees Provident Fund (EPF) intend to purchase the Grade II listed building to transform into apartments, retail and leisure units, and office space - including Apple’s future UK headquarters, says the Daily Mail.
The sale - transferring ownership of the power station but not the 42-acre site around it - dwarfs the £1.28bn paid by Chinese investors for London’s so-called Walkie Talkie building in 2017, The Guardian reports.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Built in the 1930s on the south bank of the River Thames, the disused electricity generating plant featured the cover of Pink Floyd’s 1977 album Animals, along with a pink floating pig, and is one of the best-known silhouettes on the city’s skyline.
The coal-fired power station stopped operating in 1983, but multiple attempts to redevelop the gigantic site have failed owing to the enormous costs and practical difficulties involved, says The New York Times.
In 2012, the building was bought for £400m by a Malaysian consortium led by property developer S P Setia, which planned to convert it into luxury homes and offices.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The Week contest: Airport goodbyes
Puzzles and Quizzes
By The Week US Published
-
'We shouldn't be surprised that crypto is back'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
How the national debt affects your finances
Rachel Reeves has changed the rules, but why does that matter?
By Marc Shoffman, The Week UK Published
-
Shell’s North Sea oil U-turn: ‘a first victory in a longer war’?
Speed Read Controversy after oil giant pulls out of proposed Cambo project
By The Week Staff Published
-
Fires, floods and storms: America’s ‘permanent emergency’ has begun
Speed Read This summer of climate horror feels like the ‘first, vertiginous 15 minutes of a disaster movie’, says The New York Times
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Hot air and empty rhetoric: is the UK acting too slowly on climate change?
Speed Read ‘Every day, new evidence accumulates that humanity is on an unsustainable path’
By The Week Staff Published
-
Germany floods: what led to this ‘once-in-a-century’ disaster?
Speed Read Nearly 200 people died in Germany and Belgium; hundreds are still unaccounted for
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Penguin colony at risk as Somerset-sized iceberg bears down on British overseas territory
Speed Read Several species face starvation if the icy giant blocks access to feeding grounds
By Aaron Drapkin Published
-
‘Full of hot air’: climate experts exposed as academia’s most frequent flyers
Speed Read Study results trigger calls for environmentalists to ‘look in the mirror’
By Chas Newkey-Burden Last updated
-
Mystery of millions of migrating birds dropping dead from US skies
Speed Read Some experts believe the West Coast wildfires may be to blame for ‘unprecedented’ mass bird deaths in New Mexico
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Americans warned not to plant mystery seeds being sent to homes nationwide from China
Speed Read Officials say the unsolicited packages have been mailed to residents in at least 27 US states
By Joe Evans Published