Land Securities set to seal sale of Trillium to Qataris

Land Securities was today said to be finalising a deal under which it will sell its property outsourcing arm Trillium to a Qatari-backed bidder for £1.1 billion.

The firm is understood to be in the closing stages of agreeing a sale, following a cash bid tabled late last week by the Qatari Investment Authority (QIA) in a consortium including British property fund manager aAIM.

If the deal goes ahead, the QIA will become landlord to several UK government bodies. Trillium has long-term contracts with the Department for Work and Pensions and DVLA, and is developing training bases for the Ministry of Defence. Estates Gazette said Land Securities, the UK's largest real-estate investment trust, could secure the deal this week.

Land Securities put Trillium up for sale last year as it announced plans to split its operations in three — retail, London property, and Trillium. The London property arm is behind such proposed developments as the Walkie Talkie tower at 20 Fenchurch Street in the City.
The QIA emerged as the favourite in the race for Trillium after the Investment Corporation of Dubai walked away last week.

Land Securities had previously considered an offer from a consortium led by the William Pears Group's Telereal with Australian bank Macquarie.

However, that £850 million bid did not include Trillium's £400 million portfolio of Accor hotels. When Land Securities learned of interest from the QIA for the entire business it gave the Qataris time to come up with an offer of their own.

Although much of the focus has been on the sale of Trillium, Land Securities and its chief executive Francis Salway are still pursuing a demerger into separate listed firms. Salway has consistently said this would not happen until market conditions were right.