UAE-based real estate developer Arada has acquired a 75% stake in UK residential developer Regal in a deal valued at AED2.5 billion ($681 million), marking its entry into the London market. The acquisition represents Arada's second international expansion following its move into Australia in 2024 and provides the company with an immediate platform to operate in one of the world's leading property markets. Regal will be rebranded as Arada London as part of the transaction.

The deal accelerates the delivery of Regal's existing 10,000-unit residential pipeline across 11 projects in London. Arada plans to more than triple this pipeline over the next three years, leveraging Regal's 30-year track record and 150-person team. The UK developer has previously delivered more than 4,000 homes and 1 million square feet of commercial space, with current projects including Fulton & Fifth in Wembley, which comprises 876 homes with 40% designated as affordable housing.

Arada's expansion into London aligns with its strategy of geographic diversification beyond its strong UAE base. Since its founding in 2017, the developer has launched 10 projects in the UAE, including the Aljada megaproject and Armani Beach Residences at Palm Jumeirah. The company's portfolio across the UAE and Australia amounts to over AED95 billion with more than 42,000 units, of which 10,000 have been delivered to date.

The acquisition comes as Gulf investors continue to deploy capital internationally amid strong property markets in their home regions. Arada is owned by Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, deputy ruler of Sharjah, and Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia. The investment also coincides with the UK government's push to increase housing supply, though rising construction costs present challenges to delivery targets.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has announced an urgent independent inquiry into maternity services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, describing himself as "shocked" by families' experiences of "repeated maternity failures in Leeds - made worse by the unacceptable response of the trust." The decision comes after years of campaigning by bereaved families who reported feeling "gaslit, dismissed and even blamed" for what went wrong at one of Europe's largest teaching hospitals. Mr. Streeting emphasized the "stark contradiction between scale and safety standards" at the trust, which official data shows "remains an outlier on perinatal mortality."

The inquiry follows a June downgrade by the Care Quality Commission, which rated maternity services at the trust as "inadequate" and identified serious risks to women and babies. Inspectors highlighted a deep-rooted "blame culture" that made staff reluctant to raise concerns about incidents. Brendan Brown, chief executive of LTH NHS Trust, apologized to bereaved families and expressed hope that the inquiry would provide them with "answers." He stated the trust is "determined to do better" and is already taking significant steps to improve maternity and neonatal services following reviews by regulatory bodies.

Families affected by the failures have welcomed the inquiry but are calling for rigorous leadership, specifically requesting that midwife Donna Ockenden chair the investigation. Fiona Winser-Ramm, whose daughter Aliona died in 2020 after an inquest found multiple failures, emphasized the importance of ensuring the inquiry is "the best and most thorough that it can possibly be." She described how families have been "thrust into this life that none of us should be living," noting that their shared grief should never have brought them together under such circumstances.

Serious questions are now being raised about what Sir Julian Hartley, who led the trust for ten years until 2023 and now heads the Care Quality Commission, knew about the poor maternity care. In a statement, Sir Julian expressed being "truly sorry" for families' suffering and said that while he was "absolutely committed to ensuring good patient care across all services, including maternity," this commitment "wasn't enough to prevent some families suffering pain and loss." Lauren Caulfield, whose daughter Grace died in 2022, called it "completely unacceptable that nothing has been done to date" to examine Sir Julian's role, expressing hope that the inquiry will address this gap.