Topland Group is one of the world's largest privately owned property and investment groups. Topland is headed by the billionaire brothers Eddie and Sol Zakay. Topland has "become a major player in the regional UK hotel market, having spent £200m on acquiring 28 hotels." The company head office is at 55

Baker Street Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid out the street in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detec ...

, London.

History

The founders

Eddie Zakay was born in July 1950 and Sol Zakay was born in June 1952.

Origins

Eddie and Sol Zakay started their property business in Britain during the 1980s property boom. They later expanded into the U.S. and Middle Eastern markets.''The Times'' described the brothers as having made their money principally through

sale and leaseback Leaseback, short for "sale-and-leaseback", is a financial transaction in which one sells an asset and leases it back for the long term; therefore, one continues to be able to use the asset but no longer owns it. The transaction is generally done fo ...

deals with supermarkets, particularly an important deal with

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...

in 2001. Sol Zakay left Britain to live in Israel. In 2013, he returned to the UK and took over as chairman and CEO of Topland from Eddie, who became deputy chairman. Topland Group is one of the world's largest privately owned property and investment groups. The company owns property in the UK and in 2013 bought 12 out of the 15 hotels (all in the UK) owned by the bankrupt Menzies Hotels for about $135 million. They own a number of other UK hotels, including Bath's Royal Crescent Hotel, the

Hilton Brighton Metropole The Hilton Brighton Metropole is a 4-star hotel and conference centre located on the seafront in Brighton, East Sussex. The architect was Alfred Waterhouse, who also was architect of University College London and the Natural History Museum, Londo ...

, the Glasgow Hilton and several Thistle Hotels, six in central London and one in Edinburgh. According to The ''

Sunday Times Rich List The ''Sunday Times Rich List'' is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families resident in the United Kingdom ranked by net wealth. The list is updated annually in April and published as a magazine supplement by British national Sunday news ...

'' in 2020 the founders' net worth was approximately £3.61 billion. The company has since diversified into natural resources and renewable energy. Topland's principal activity is commercial real estate, with a portfolio of over 220 properties, valued in the region of £3 billion. Topland also has a hotel portfolio consisting of 40 hotels, including the Hallmark Hotel Group, the Royal Crescent Hotel, in the

Royal Crescent The Royal Crescent is a row of 30 terraced houses laid out in a sweeping Crescent (architecture), crescent in the city of Bath, Somerset, Bath, England. Designed by the architect John Wood, the Younger and built between 1767 and 1774, it is a ...

in Bath, the

, the Glasgow Hilton and several Thistle Hotels, six in central London, one in Straford Upon Avon (The Welcombe Hotel) and one in Edinburgh.

Legal dispute

In 2012, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' reported that Topland was being sued by the UK's Ministry of Justice, having "conspired with a property agent in 2002 to extract inflated rents from the government on one of its central London buildings which houses the main London divorce courts". The UK government has accused Topland of "deceit, fraud by bribery, dishonest assistance and breach of confidence" and "unlawful conspiracy". The case was "settled out of court on confidential terms".

Philanthropy

In 2010, Topland held a business lunch at the

Grosvenor House Hotel ] JW Marriott Grosvenor House London, originally named the Grosvenor House Hotel, is a luxury hotel that opened in 1929 in the Mayfair area of London, England. The hotel is managed by JW Marriott Hotels, which is a brand of Marriott Internationa ...

in London in conjunction with

Jewish Care Jewish Care is a British charity, working mainly in London and South East England, providing health and social care support services for the Jewish community. The charity runs over 70 centres and services which include care homes, community centr ...

, at which £241,000 was raised for the charity's causes.Lord Mandelson helps to raise £241K for Jewish Care.
''

Jewish Chronicle Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

'', 15 November 2010. Retrieved 2 October 2015.

References

{{Reflist Property companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in the City of Westminster