Henning Conle

Henning Conle
Born	February 1944 (age 80)
Nationality	German, Swiss
Known for	Property owner

Henning Conle (born February 1944)[1] is a UK-based German-Swiss[2] billionaire property owner.

Through a Liechtenstein-registered company, Sirosa, Conle owns "almost £2bn of prime real estate" in central London, including the Liberty of London building, the Kensington Roof Gardens, the London offices of Manchester United and the art deco Shell Mex House on the Strand.[3][4][5]

In Germany, Conle may own "more than 10,000 properties", and in Hamburg, owned up to 2,500 flats in the 1990s.[3] Conle is "long-renowned in his home country of Germany for shoddy buildings and acrimonious tenant disputes".[4]

In 2013, Conle purchased the Kensington Roof Gardens through a company, Cartina Kensington Ltd, registered in the British Virgin Islands and owned by Sirosa Anstalt. The property was purchased for £225 million,[6] £25 million higher than the closest bidder – the Qatar Investment Authority.[7]

There has been speculation that Conle acts on behalf of Russian investors, though representatives for Sirosa Have denied this.[8]

In 2018, media investigations showed that Conle was involved in the AfD donation scandal by illegal financing politicians of Germany's right-wing party "Alternative for Germany", especially Alice Weidel.[9]

Other companies owned by Conle include the British-registered Strandbrook, of which Conle and his daughter Johanna Conle are registered officers.^[citation needed]

According to The Sunday Times Rich List in 2020 his net worth was estimated at £1.168 billion.[10]

Financing of AfD

Conle is a supporter of the far-right political party Alternative for Germany. Conle donated a total of Euro 132,000 by means of straw men for the federal election campaign of the AfD parliamentary group leader Alice Weidel. Conle disguised his donation from Switzerland and is also involved in the AfD donation scandal.[11]

Frauke Petry, former AfD party leader, reported in an interview that Conle had already offered donations to the AfD in 2015, but wanted to stay in the background. Anonymous donations to political parties are illegal in Germany. Petry met Conle several times between October 2015 and May 2016 in Leipzig and Zurich. At a meeting in Switzerland, Jörg Meuthen AfD Co-party leader is said to have been also there. The Bundestag administration has also declared a donation to him to be illegal.[11]

References

1. "Henning CONLE – Personal Appointments (free information from Companies House)". Beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. 21 October 2013. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
2. Sebastian Pittelkow, Katja Riedel, Georg Wellmann: Geheime AfD-Spenden Spur zum Umfeld eines Duisburger Milliardärs In: tagesschau.de vom 4. April 2019.
3. Philip Oltermann in Berlin (11 May 2014). "London property empire amassed by controversial German landlord | UK news". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
4. "Dodgy German Landlord Emerges as London Property Mogul". Sourceable.net. 16 May 2014. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
5. "The German family playing a real-life game of Monopoly – Times of India". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 29 January 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
6. "What will happen to Europe's largest roof garden? – The Kensington Society". The Kensington Society. 27 February 2018. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
7. "German investor rivals funds of Middle East". Morgan Pryce. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
8. Oltermann, Philip (11 May 2014). "London property empire amassed by controversial German landlord". the Guardian. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
9. "Geheime AfD-Spenden: Spur zum Umfeld eines Duisburger Milliardärs | tagesschau.de". www.tagesschau.de. Archived from the original on 4 April 2019.
10. Times, The Sunday. "Rich List 2020: profiles 101-199=, featuring Sir Paul McCartney and Joanne Rowling". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
11. Orde, Sabine am (10 March 2021). "Immobilienhai Henning Conle: Der große AfD-Finanzier?". Die Tageszeitung: taz (in German). ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 7 August 2023.