Foreign investors looking to iconic London buildings

International sovereign wealth funds could be permitted to take stakes in iconic buildings – which are owned by the British taxpayer - in London, under new plans being drawn up by The Crown Estate.

The organisation, which manages properties ranging from Windsor Great Park to areas of Mayfair on behalf of the Treasury, has a portfolio worth £6.6 billion. Many of the UK’s cityscapes, ancient forests, farms, parkland, coastline and communities are managed by the agency.

It has announced that talks with potential international investors are proceeding regarding the sale of a 25 per cent share in Regent Street in central London. Frontrunners for the share are reported to include state pension funds from the Continent and North America.

The Regent Street deal would be worth around £400 million if it goes ahead and, although another deal of this magnitude looks unlikely to be repeated anytime soon, The Crown Estate may well raise more money by selling sections of commercial property sites to foreign investors.

A Crown Estate spokesman confirmed, “On a much smaller scale, we might well look at a similar type of fundraising on a building-by-building basis.'

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