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London
Business School Launches First-Ever Campaign with Landmark
£25 Million (US $40 million) Gift
London,
United Kingdom – London
Business School has
announced the launch of its first-ever comprehensive
fundraising campaign with a goal to raise £100 million ($160
million) over the next five years.
The School’s campaign will
fund the transformation of
Old Marylebone Town Hall in
London into a new educational facility, attract world class
faculty, double its scholarships offering, invest in the
latest technology, and develop an unrestricted fund in
support of the School’s strategic priorities.
The School’s largest ever single donation of
$40 million from The Idan and Batia Ofer Family Foundation
was announced today to alumni of the School in the presence
of the Ofer family, which will help fund the development of
Old Marylebone Town Hall. The cutting-edge teaching and
learning facility will be named ‘The Sammy Ofer Centre’ in
honour of Idan’s late father, Sammy Ofer KBE, a
distinguished shipping magnate and philanthropist.
The building will become an integral part of
London Business School’s campus, creating a triangle of
educational facilities between Sussex Place, the Taunton
Centre and Old Marylebone Town Hall. The Town Hall, five
minutes’ walk from the School’s Sussex Place and Taunton
Place buildings, will transform the School’s future,
providing a dynamic space where people can come together to
test, share and apply new ideas and ways of thinking.
The plans, agreed late last year, involve the
construction of an additional new three storey building
complete with six new lecture theatres, a library, 35
seminar rooms, offices, staff and faculty suites, student
lounge, broadcast facilities and a new alumni centre. Work
is expected to start in early 2014.
Idan Ofer, whose Quantum
Pacific Group spans energy, international shipping and
technology, is
an alumnus and long term supporter of the School, its values
and its ethos. Mr Ofer said: “I have enjoyed a long
association with the School and believe that it offers
something uniquely valuable in the world of business
education, combining strong fundamental business and
management education with an emphasis on the business
community being part of the solution for a better society”.
“This project is an
important step towards ensuring the School can continue to
grow and prosper in the future, creating new generations of
leaders who can address the challenges of business and wider
society. My father Sammy enjoyed learning from others and
throughout his career in shipping was known to spend many
hours speaking with seamen and officers of vessels, rather
than being tucked away in his office. This sense of
curiosity resonates strongly with London Business School’s
community where students are not just stretched
intellectually; they become a part of an ever-expanding
international community, learning as much from each other as
from the faculty”, he continued. “One of the goals of The
Idan and Batia Ofer Foundation is to ensure the next
generation of Israeli entrepreneurs is equipped to cope with
the challenges of globalisation. London Business School is
at the forefront of helping to meet these challenges. The
Foundation hopes in this small way to contribute to economic
growth in the region, ultimately improving the prospects for
peace and stability”.
Professor Sir Andrew
Likierman, Dean, London Business School, said: “This
wonderfully generous gift will enable us to convert this
iconic London landmark for use as a state-of-the-art
teaching and learning facility. It will provide us with the
space we need and enable us to achieve our vision of having
a profound impact on the way the world does business”.
The Hon Apurv
Bagri, London Business School’s Campaign Chairman and
Deputy Chairman of the School’s Governing Body and Managing
Director, Metdist Group, added: “I’m delighted that we are
able to announce this gift as we launch the School’s first
ever comprehensive fundraising campaign. It sends a strong
signal about the power of the London Business School
community. Not only will this gift help fund the
transformation of Old Marylebone Town Hall but, critically,
it lays the foundation for the School’s future”.
The official U.S. launch of the campaign
takes place in New York City on October 3. More information
can be found here.
About Old
Marylebone Town Hall
Under the agreement with London’s Westminster
Council, London Business School will spend over £50 million
in the fit-out and restoration of the Grade II listed
building to its former glory, whilst creating a modern
learning environment within its historic premises.
For further information about Old Marylebone
Town Hall, please click here.
About
London Business School
London Business
School's purpose is to deliver insights and leaders that
have impact. The School was ranked number one
internationally for the full-time MBA programme*. In
research, the School is ranked top ten and holds the highest
average research score of any UK academic institution**.
The School's
faculty, from over 30 countries, is grouped into seven
subject areas – Accounting; Economics; Finance; Management
Science and Operations; Marketing; Organisational Behaviour;
and Strategy and Entrepreneurship.
Studying at the
School provides access to an unmatched diversity of thought.
With a presence in four international cities – London, New
York, Hong Kong and Dubai – the School is well positioned to
equip students from more than 100 countries with the
capabilities needed to operate in today’s business
environment. Students further benefit from our 36,000 alumni
from more than 130 countries who provide a wealth of
knowledge, business experience and worldwide networking
opportunities.
The School awards
over 1,000 degrees every year, across MBA, Executive MBA,
Masters in Finance, Sloan Fellow and PhD programmes and has
most recently added Masters in Management to its portfolio.
The Executive Education team offers a portfolio of over 25
open programmes as well as custom-designed programmes
developed to meet the specific needs of individuals and
their organisation. Annually, over 7,000 participants attend
executive programmes that are led by many of the world’s
leading business thinkers.
www.london.edu
Sammy Ofer, shipping magnate &
philanthropist, founded one of the largest privately held
shipping groups in the world with a fleet of well over 200
vessels. Having served in the Royal Navy as a young man in
the Second World War, Sammy maintained a longstanding
connection with the United Kingdom, and London, until his
passing in June 2011. An entrepreneur from a young age,
Sammy bought his first small cargo ship in the 1950s and
went on to build an enormously successful international
shipping group. This enterprise continues to operate part of
its fleet from London, the city which has helped define and
shape London Business School for the past half-century.
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