Royal Mint Court may become Chinese mega-embassy in London

China's new mega-embassy plan at Royal Mint Court stirs controversy in the UK over secrecy, security threats, protests, heritage concerns, and influence on government decisions.

- ANTONIA FILMER

The new Chinese Embassy is causing quite a stir in London. The new super-Embassy in the historically significant Royal Mint Court has been many years in the pipeline, several years were below the radar of public and seemingly parliamentary scrutiny. The CCP would love to have this prestigious site as their flagship Embassy and the irony that Britain's mighty coin producer might now become CCP central in UK seems to be lost on the Labour Party.

The chicanery of the deal goes back to 1994 when G Soros Realty Investors acquired £1.34 million British Land shares at 298p from a Quantum Fund holding. The Quantum Fund, co-founded by George Soros in 1973, is one of the most successful hedge funds in history, known for its high-yield returns and significant impact on global finance. Documents issued by British Land apparently did not disclose this, but did reveal that Mr. John Ritblat, Honorary President of British Land, received 2 million shares at cost from the Quantum Fund. In 1998, in a convoluted deal, one of George Soros's Quantum hedge funds from the British Virgin Islands placed £127m into Delancey Estates.

Then in June 2010 the freehold of the iconic site was acquired on an off-market basis by clients of Delancey from the Crown Estate, the Crown acquired the Royal Mint Court in 1539 following the dissolution of the monasteries. Delancey is a UK-based real estate asset management and advisory firm, investing in real estate investments, developments and related businesses on behalf of global institutions.

In April 2015, a joint venture was finalised with the LRC Group, management specialists of commercial and residential assets. Planning permission was secured by the joint venture from Tower Hamlets in February 2017, for a comprehensive, architecturally ambitious refurbishment and part redevelopment for the Grade II-listed building to be refurbished and the site redeveloped into an office, shopping and leisure complex.