Asif Aziz is a

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-based billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist. As the founder and Chief Executive of

Criterion Capital Criterion Capital is a privately-held British property company, which owns and manages property estate in prime areas of London, particularly in Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus. History The company was founded by current Chief Execu ...

, he is known for owning and operating key landmarks including the

London Trocadero The London Trocadero was an entertainment complex on Coventry Street, with a rear entrance in Shaftesbury Avenue, London. It was originally built in 1896 as a restaurant, which closed in 1965. In 1984, the complex reopened as an exhibition and en ...

and Criterion Building in Piccadilly Circus. Aziz is also the founder of family based charity the Aziz Foundation.

Early life

Born in

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

in 1967, Aziz moved to

at the age of six. He acquired his first London property in the 1980s, whilst still at school. He graduated from the

British American College London Regent's American College London, (commonly abbreviated to "RACL"), is a part of Regent's University London, the campus of which was originally built in 1913 in the midst of Regent's Park in central London, UK. Until 2007 the college was known ...

with a business baccalaureate.

Career

In an interview with City AM, Aziz said that, "When I was still in school, I was intrigued by the London property market. My first ‘real’ job was at Morgan Grenfell Laurie where I learnt from the best in the commercial property industry. My first actual job was at McDonald’s flipping burgers." Aziz added, "I fell in love with property when I was just 16 and made my first acquisition." According to Private Eye, quoting Labour MP Siobhan McDonagh, "Aged 16,

ziz ZIZ Broadcasting Corporation commonly referred to as ZIZ, is the government-owned radio and (now cable television, cable-only) television service of Saint Kitts and Nevis. Its radio programming is broadcast on 555 AM, 95.9 & 96.1 FM, whilst th ...

is said to have turned up in London one day, out of nowhere, to buy property in an auction. He has been accumulating more and more property ever since." Aziz worked for property investment company Morgan Grenfell Laurie before moving back to

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

, Africa in 1993 where he made his fortune through the setting up of two food manufacturing businesses, including Golfrate Angola, which he sold in 2005. That same year he returned to the UK and established

, which acquired the

leisure complex, the

London Pavilion The London Pavilion is a building on the corner of Shaftesbury Avenue and Coventry Street on the north-east side of Piccadilly Circus in London. It is currently a shopping arcade and part of the Trocadero Centre. Early history The first buildi ...

(1 Piccadilly Circus) and The Criterion Building (1 Jermyn Street). Today, Criterion Capital are the biggest landowner in the

Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester ...

- Piccadilly Circus corridor. As CEO of

, he owns and manages a £3.6bn property portfolio across

and the South East of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, including 15 commercial buildings in the

West End of London The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buil ...

, the Docklands and

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

In 2005, the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' reported that he bought his first property aged 16 at an auction he visited with a relative, after saying he was 18. He bid £1.9m for the building opposite

South Kensington tube station South Kensington is a London Underground station in the district of South Kensington, south west London. It is served by the District, Circle and Piccadilly lines. On the District and Circle lines it is between Gloucester Road and Sloane Squa ...

. Through Criterion, unveiled plans to turn the Trocadero into a 500-room pod hotel in 2009. In 2014, plans were also unveiled to open a

TK Maxx TK Maxx is a subsidiary of the American apparel and home goods company TJX Companies based in Framingham, Massachusetts. The stores operate throughout the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Austria and the Netherlands, totalli ...

retail store on the Trocadero site, though the media reported possible opposition from the

Crown Estate The Crown Estate is a collection of lands and holdings in the United Kingdom belonging to the British monarch as a corporation sole, making it "the sovereign's public estate", which is neither government property nor part of the monarch's priva ...

. Aziz is reputed to be Britain's seventh richest Muslim in the UK. ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' ranked Asif Aziz as number 12 out of 40 in its list of successful entrepreneurs. Aziz has been criticised by the political magazine

Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satire, satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely r ...

for using companies registered in the Isle of Man to buy properties in London, especially pubs, and then close them down to replace them with more lucrative housing developments. In 2020, The Times asked if Aziz was "the meanest landlord in Britain", due to the way he had treated tenants during the pandemic. In 2022 he was criticised by

Novara Media Novara Media (often shortened to Novara) is an independent,F. Mayhew,The Media Fund offers 'democratic' alternative to billionaire press owners and BBC' (11/10/17) in Press Gazette left-wing alternative media organisation based in the United King ...

for continuing to buy community spaces like bars and nurseries and redeveloping them into luxury apartments.

References

External links

Aziz Foundation website

Asif Aziz's biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aziz, Asif Living people 1967 births English people of Indian descent Malawian chief executives Malawian emigrants to the United Kingdom Businesspeople from London

Early life

Career

See also

References

External links