Gazeley Limited (Acquired by Dubai World June 2008)

Note: This company is no longer trading as a separate enterprise.

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2008

June - After weeks of speculation, Dubai World, the 'sovereign' wealth fund backed by the Dubai government, won the race to acquire one of the world's largest distribution property development companies, Gazeley. The purchase price was believed to be in excess of £300m (€360m/$585m).

UK-based Gazeley, a subsidiary of US retailer Wal-Mart, was put up for sale earlier in the year as it was no longer seen as being core to the latter's business. Gazeley will be taken over by Jebel Ali Free Trade Zone (Jafza), a part of the Dubai World group which also includes port operator DP World.

According to press reports, there were a number of interested bidders for the developer which has properties in the UK, mainland Europe, China, Mexico and India. They apparently included a Bahrain company as well as a rival UK developer, Segro.

Dubai World was a government-owned holding company which operated in a highly diversified range of industrial segments, namely transport & logistics, drydocks & maritime, urban development and investment & financial services. While the 'credit crunch' is having an effect on industry in other parts of the world, that was clearly not the case in the Middle East and further acquisitions or investments might well be underpinned by money from that source.

It was believed that Gazeley's transition to the ownership of Dubai World would have little impact on existing management structures. That was likely not to have been the case if the acquisition had been undertaken by a competitor.

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Founded in 1988, Gazeley is a stand alone development company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wal*Mart. Gazeley develops warehouse and industrial space throughout Europe. By the end of 2005 the company had 29 sites under development and a land bank of approximately 1,650 acres.  Gazeley continues to develop sites in Europe and has expanded into China. 

Gazeley's first development was at Magna Park Lutterworth, a former air force base. It spread this concept to a number of countries outside of the UK.

Gazeley has adopted an environmental approach with a framework for increasing environmental and socially responsible logistics development. Since January 2005, it has included environmental initiatives in its standard specification, at no extra cost to the customer.