Canary Wharf bid marks the end of an era for the City

The majority owner of Canary Wharf may be getting out at just the right time if it decides to sell, says Matthew Lynn.

If there was any trophy asset in the UK that would fit naturally into the Qatari investment portfolio, then it is surely Canary Wharf. With its gleaming office towers, filled with smartly suited bankers and consultants, and lined with sushi bars, it has always seemed more like a Gulf statelet than a London district.

Apart from the fact that the Thames is a lot greyer than the Persian Gulf, and it rains a lot more, you could almost be in Qatar itself. It really is hard to think of a more perfect match.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.