Friday, September 26, 2003

£350 Million Sale Leaseback of Debenhams Portfolio Likely

Property Week - 26 September 2003:

British Land is in talks with venture capitalists CVC Capital Partners and Texas Pacific Group over buying Debenhams' freehold property if their offer for the group is successful. CVC and Texas Pacific made a recommended cash offer for Debenhams on 12 September through their bid vehicle, Baroness Retail.

It emerged this week that the organisations have held early stage discussions about a possible sale-and-leaseback of £350m of freeholds to fund a bid for the department store. The talks, which have been kept secret until now, represent the first sign that CVC and Texas Pacific are considering raising part of the £1.66bn offered to buy the chain on the back of its property.

A consortium led by Permira, the venture capitalist whose £1.54bn bid for Debenhams was trumped by Baroness Retail, had agreed to sell the properties to Legal & General and Land Securities. Permira may launch a counterbid. It is also possible that L&G and LandSecs could switch to Baroness if Permira's bid proved unsuccessful.



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