Liberty International has sold most of its shares in Land Securities, only two months after chairman Donald Gordon boasted of his plans to shake up the property industry.
In March, Liberty bought 15.4 million Land Sec shares, around 3% of the firm’s shares, at a cost of £103.6m. This week, John Ritblat’s British Land announced it had a 29.9% stake in Liberty, prompting talk of a potential takeover.
Liberty announced that the bulk of its investment in Land Securities “has now been realised in a series of market transactions, resulting in the disposal of approximately 13 million shares for approximately £103m”. The transaction netted Liberty a gain before taxation of approximately £16m.
EGi News 07/06/00
