Row centred on 2015 deal to restart mothballed tower then known as Pinnacle

Legal action which said Lipton Rogers reneged on an 拢11m payment to a man who claimed to have helped broker the firm鈥檚 deal on 22 Bishopsgate has been withdrawn.

In a statement released last month, Hamid Alqumairi said he had been a 鈥渃rucial middleman鈥� in the 2015 deal which saw Lipton Rogers and French investor AXA take over the project from a Saudi consortium and said he had been promised a fee for his role.

Litpon Rogers later said the claim, filed by Alqumairi and Middle East Real Estate Inc (MERE) more than two years ago, was 鈥渨ithout any foundation and is factually inaccurate and misconceived鈥�.

22

22 Bishopsgate was completed at the end of 2020 after the previous scheme, known as the Pinnacle, stalled in 2012 because of funding problems before being rescued three years later by Lipton Rogers and AXA

Earlier this month, the claim was withdrawn and in a statement Lipton Rogers said: 鈥淭heir ill-conceived attempts to litigate are now over.鈥�

In its statement, the developer said the judge hearing the case had described legal action as 鈥溾�榥othing more than a tactic鈥� and that Mr Alqumairi and MERE 鈥榟ad no serious belief 鈥� that [the proceedings] would result in a judgment in their favour.鈥� The judge also described Mr Alqumairi鈥檚 press release [last month] as 鈥榳holly misleading and to my mind improper鈥�.鈥�

Costs of 拢175,500 were awarded to Lipton Rogers which added: 鈥淭his matter is now concluded. It should not have arisen at all.鈥�

In his claim, Alqumairi added the project 鈥渃ould not have been completed鈥� without him and that he had been 鈥渋nstrumental in getting a workable design agreed鈥�. The 拢11.1m he said he was owed is 1% of the 拢1.1bn the AXA team is understood to have paid for the site.

Responding to the end of his legal action, Alqumairi told 好色先生TV: 鈥淒espite this disappointing outcome it remains the case that I was instrumental in 22 Bishopsgate鈥檚 development.鈥�

Lipton Rogers and AXA took over the development of the stalled tower, then known as the Pinnacle, eight years ago after work on that scheme was mothballed in 2012 because of funding problems.

The City of London鈥檚 tallest tower, 22 Bishopsgate was finally finished by Multiplex in December 2020, more than a decade after it was first slated for completion.

Topics