Criterion Capital is a privately-held British property company, which owns and manages property estate in prime areas of London, particularly in

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 ...

and Piccadilly Circus.

History

The company was founded by current Chief Executive Asif Aziz, a

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 ...

-born developer. The company's flagship project is 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 ...

leisure complex on Piccadilly Circus, which was acquired in 2005. Part of the building was converted into a hotel which opened in 2020: the Zedwell Piccadilly has 728 windowless rooms and a large rooftop bar. In April 2020, the company served its tenants with notices that they would be met with legal action if they did not pay rent during the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United Kingdom, it has resulted in confir ...

, despite the government moratorium on evictions. The company extended rent-free periods to some tenants that were deemed to be "in need." Plans were submitted in May 2020 to develop parts of the building's basement into a mosque. These plans drew controversy as the Picadilly neighborhood was known for its nightlife rather than places of worship. Criterion Capital is also developing projects in Croydon with the purchase of two office buildings around 2015, and has a riverside site at

Enderby's Wharf Enderby's Wharf is a wharf and industrial site on the south bank of the Thames in Greenwich, London, associated with Telcon and other companies. It has a history of more than 150 years of production of submarine communication cables and associ ...

, East Greenwich. The ultimate owner of the company is a trust linked to Aziz, via ACT Property Holdings Ltd, an

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company. In 2022, the company invested €80 million into residential apartments in Miraflores, Portugal. This was the company's first expansion outside of the United Kingdom.

References

Property companies of England {{England-stub

External links

https://www.criterioncapital.co.uk/