Dubai, UAE, London, UK//-Gulf Islamic Investments (GII), a leading GCC-headquartered Shari’ah-compliant alternative investment group with more than $3 billion in assets under management (AUM), today announced that it has acquired a majority stake in London House Exchange Limited (LHX) from Better Home & Finance Holding Company (NASDAQ: BETR).
This follows approval from the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Better will remain invested in LHX as a strategic minority shareholder, according to a press release issued by the parties.
The acquisition marks GII’s second strategic investment in the United Kingdom, following its investment in Offa, one of the UK’s leading Shari’ah-compliant mortgage lenders, and reinforces the Group’s long-term commitment to building a globally integrated financial services platform.
Together with Vision Bank, GII’s wholly owned Category 1 licensed digital Islamic bank regulated by Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), and its growing private credit platform across the GCC, LHX represents another important milestone in GII’s strategy of creating a diversified, technology-enabled financial services ecosystem spanning multiple jurisdictions.
Building a Global Financial Services Platform
London House Exchange is recognised as the world’s first regulated trading exchange for fractional UK property investments, enabling investors to access institutional-quality real estate through a regulated digital platform.
LHX is authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), providing the regulatory permissions to structure, fractionalise, trade and distribute a broad range of investment products beyond property.
This regulatory framework provides GII with a highly scalable platform to expand into new asset classes and international markets.
GII’s plans for the future intend to build on LHX’s strong regulatory foundation by developing the platform beyond its current UK property offering into a broader range of alternative investments, with a particular focus on Shari’ah-compliant income-generating investments, private credit opportunities and equity-linked products through an originate-to-distribute model.
The Group also plans to extend LHX’s geographic reach, providing investors with access to high-quality regulated investment opportunities across international markets.
As digital capital markets continue to evolve, GII also intends to explore the introduction of regulated tokenisation capabilities as part of LHX’s next phase of development.
Tokenisation has the potential to transform private markets by enabling digital ownership of real-world assets, improving operational efficiency, increasing accessibility and broadening investor participation while maintaining robust regulatory oversight.
LHX further strengthens GII’s presence within the UK financial services landscape and provides a scalable platform to support the Group’s long-term vision of becoming a leading global provider of regulated alternative investment solutions.
Utpal Shah, Group CFO at GII, commented: “With LHX, GII is making its second strategic investment in the UK financial services sector, building on our investment in Offa, the FCA-regulated Sharia-compliant home finance provider.
Alongside Vision Bank, our wholly owned licensed digital Islamic bank in Abu Dhabi, and our expanding private credit platform across the GCC, LHX further advances our ambition to build a globally connected financial services platform.
LHX’s compelling proposition and highly experienced team are a strong strategic fit for GII. We look forward to supporting the platform’s growth, broadening access to alternative investment opportunities and creating greater value for clients.”
Anand Periwal, Chief Operating Officer, Financial Services at GII, added: “LHX represents an important addition to GII’s growing financial services ecosystem.
We look forward to building on the strong foundations established by the LHX team and leveraging GII’s investment expertise, global network and financial resources to support the platform’s growth.
Together, we aim to broaden the range of investment opportunities available to clients and further strengthen LHX’s position as a leading regulated marketplace for alternative investments.”
