St Martins Property Investments Limited (trading as St Martins Property Group) is a property development, investment and asset management company based in the United Kingdom representing the real estate interests of the State of Kuwait with their headquarters in London Bridge City, London. The company is wholly owned by the Kuwait sovereign wealth fund, Future Generations Fund. Their flagship development projects are London Bridge City, an office area, and 150 Cheapside. St Martins Property Group has operations in the United Kingdom, Continental Europe including Turkey, Japan and Australia. History Early years The Company was incorporated in February 1924 as The St Martins-Le-Grand Property Company Limited to carry on the business of property investment. The company started to expand after the war years and in 1947 it merged with the Cheapside Land Development Company Limited which owned a number of London office properties. The Company then acquired Porkellis Property & General Investment Trust Limited in 1954, further expanding the portfolio of office investments. Rapid growth was to follow after 1956, with the acquisition of a number of property companies including London & Northern Properties Limited, introducing significant portfolios of investment properties and development sites. It was during this period that the name of the Company was changed to St Martins Property Corporation Limited. Organic growth In addition to growth by acquisition, the company embarked on an extensive programme of property development and during the 1960s and 70's many schemes were completed including Kings Mall Shopping Centre at Hammersmith, which was later sold in 2011. Kuwaiti ownership In 1974 Kuwait purchased the St Martin's Property Corporation outright. During the 1980s the company expanded its portfolio with the completion of major office, retail and warehousing schemes including London Bridge City, Windmill Hill Business Park in Swindon, the Drummond Centre in Croydon, Monument Mall Newcastle, Cathedral Lanes Coventry, Fieldhead Business Centre Bradford and Elliots Field Retail Park at Rugby. All properties except for London Bridge City and the Windmill Hill Business Park were disposed of during 2011. Further acquisitions In March 2007 St Martins completed the purchase of one of Europe's largest shopping centres, Cevahir Mall, in Istanbul. St Martins acquired a new-build office building at 51 Lime Street in the City of London in June 2008. This building was later renamed the Willis Building as it is the UK headquarters of insurers The Willis Group. Designed by architect Norman Foster, the Willis Building