Canary Wharf chair George Iacobescu to step down

Sir George Iacobescu is to step down as chair of Canary Wharf Group after 36 years steering the growth of London’s second financial district. 

The company, owned by Canadian investment group Brookfield and the Qatar Investment Authority, said on Wednesday that former Legal & General chief Sir Nigel Wilson would replace the 78-year-old Iacobescu, who it described as a “driving force” behind the creation of Canary Wharf.

“CWG is the first company on the planet to have built an entirely new central business district from scratch,” Iacobescu said. “It has been the honour and the challenge of a lifetime to have worked with an extraordinary group of people transforming a derelict dock into a thriving mixed-use city district.”

Iacobescu’s departure from the company after more than three decades marks a major transition for the London financial centre. He was the mastermind behind building the new district envisioned by developer Paul Reichmann and championed by then prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

Katie Oliphant, a longtime Canary Wharf executive and now partner at estate agency Knight Frank, said Iacobescu “had big vision but was also a perfectionist on detail”.

“Sir George is truly an inspirational man — a one-off,” she said. “His impact will be felt for generations to come”.

The change comes at a difficult moment for Canary Wharf as some of its long-standing financial tenants leave for the City and other banks cut back on traditional office space in the face of cost pressures and hybrid working.

The docklands estate is increasing efforts to diversify into housing, life sciences, retail and leisure. “Canary Wharf is becoming a city within a city,” said Wilson.

Recruiting Wilson, known for his successful 11-year tenure as chief executive of the UK’s largest life insurer and investment manager, is a coup for Canary Wharf.

The 67 year old had considered a move into politics after leaving L&G last year. He has also shown a strong interest in housing and has been an advocate for investment institutions backing British infrastructure and regional developments.

Wilson praised Iacobescu’s “visionary leadership” of Canary Wharf.

An engineer by training, Iacobescu managed to escape from communist Romania to Canada at the age of 30, embarking on a new career in construction.

He first visited the then-desolate former docklands in 1987 as an executive for Olympia & York, the original developer of Canary Wharf.

Iacobescu stuck with Canary Wharf through several owners and some difficult periods, including its 1992 bankruptcy. He became chief executive in 1997 and chair in 2011, remaining in the post after Brookfield and the Qatar Investment Authority bought the group for £2.6bn in 2015.

He was succeeded as chief executive by Shobi Khan, a real estate executive who had been president of Brookfield-owned retail landlord General Growth Properties, in 2019.