Key Takeaways
- • Gulf Islamic Investments (GII), a UAE-headquartered Shari'ah-compliant alternative investment group with more than $3 billion in AUM, has acquired a majority stake in London House Exchange (LHX) from Better Home & Finance Holding Company, following approval from the UK Financial Conduct Authority.
- • Better remains invested in LHX as a strategic minority shareholder.
- • The deal is GII's second strategic investment in UK financial services after Offa, a Shari'ah-compliant mortgage lender; publisher context cites a 60 million pound investment.
- • GII plans to expand LHX beyond UK fractional property into Shari'ah-compliant income-generating investments, private credit, and equity-linked products via an originate-to-distribute model, and to explore regulated tokenization.
- • LHX will be integrated with GII's Vision Bank, a Category 1 licensed digital Islamic bank regulated by the Abu Dhabi Global Market, and its GCC private credit platform.
Summary
GII, founded in 2014, is a UAE-headquartered Shari'ah-compliant alternative investment group with more than $3 billion in assets under management. It invests across private equity, real estate, private credit and financial services, and serves institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds, banks, family offices and high-net-worth individuals across the GCC, Asia and other international markets. The LHX acquisition follows GII's investment in Offa, a Shari'ah-compliant mortgage lender, and is its second strategic investment in UK financial services.
LHX's FCA-authorized permissions allow it to structure, fractionalize, trade and distribute investment products beyond real estate. GII intends to use the platform to build a broader range of alternative investments, with an emphasis on Shari'ah-compliant income-generating assets, private credit and equity-linked products distributed through an originate-to-distribute model. GII also plans to expand LHX geographically and explore regulated tokenization, which it believes could support digital ownership of real-world assets, improve operational efficiency and broaden participation in private markets.
The acquisition will be connected to GII's other financial services businesses, including Offa, Vision Bank and its expanding GCC private credit platform, as part of a more globally integrated, technology-enabled ecosystem. GII Group CFO Utpal Shah said the deal advances the group's ambition to build a globally connected financial services platform, while Anand Periwal, COO of Financial Services at GII, said the group would leverage its investment expertise, global network and financial resources to support LHX's growth.
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