Biggest UK property firm mulls break-up

Biggest UK property firm mulls break-up
September 7th, 2007 · No Comments

(LONDON) Paul Myners, chairman of Britain’s biggest listed property firm Land Securities, has ordered the group to examine a possible break-up, the Daily Telegraph said yesterday.

The move is one of the options being looked at as part of a wider strategic review in response to poor share price performance, the paper said, without citing sources.

A break-up is likely to involve the demerger of the firm’s property outsourcing business Trillium, it said.

Its chief executive Francis Salway said in June at the Reuters Real Estate Summit that he would not rule out spinning off some of its units, including Trillium, whose contribution to group earnings was likely to grow to 20-30 per cent from around 16 per cent now.

But he said then that the company would stick to a diversified business model, with its emphasis on both office and retail property, despite a view among some fund managers that Reit shareholders were better served by firms that specialised by property type.

Land Securities shares have fallen around 20 per cent so far this year.



Source: Reuters (Business Times 6 Sept 07)