A covert London vault, which is said to be able to accommodate more than $80 billion in gold bullion, is about to be sold by British bank Barclays to a Chinese bank.
In a report by the U.K. newspaper «The Guardian», the Chinese bank ICBC is said to be paying an undisclosed sum for the high tech state of the art facility.
The complex is located inside the M25 Motorway which encircles the U.K. capital and has the capacity to store 2,000 tonnes of gold. The vault is said to be one of the largest in Europe and is presently used to store bars of gold, silver, platinum and palladium.
Ultra Secure
Among the extensive security precautions are a front door that can withstand «a direct hit from a rocket-propelled grenade, » and plinths that have been sunk so deeply into the ground that tunnelling in would not be an option.
A large chunk of the gold reserves held by Britain were controversially sold off by Gordon Brown the former British Chancellor in 1999. At the same time the People’s Bank of China, as finews.asia reported, has been one of the biggest gold buyers as it continues to diversify its reserve holdings despite the higher prices.
Non Core Disposals
Commenting on the sale, John Mahon, Co-Head of Barclays Non-Core, said, «This sale represents further progress with our Non-Core rundown as we work to simplify Barclays’ operations and achieve our cost and capital reduction commitments.»
The acquisition is expected to be completed in July.
