St Modwen is in exclusive talks with a purchaser for the New Covent Garden Market site in Nine Elms, which it put up for sale with its joint venture partner Vinci in August last year.
According to St Modwen’s 2015 results, the site is valued at almost £600m.
The company made the announcement in its full-year results for 2016, which recorded a drop in pre-tax profit to £60m, from £258m in 2015, and an increase in NAV to 460.5 pence per share, from 446.4 pps last year.
It invested £99.5m into commercial development activity in the year to 30 November 2016, delivering approximately 800,000 sq ft of new space.
Its development pipeline now stands at 1.6m sq ft.
The company has completed and let the latest phase of the town centre in Longbridge, Birmingham, and has now started a new phase of housing.
It is also assessing options for its student accommodation assets in the Bay Campus at Swansea University, which comprises more than 2,000 rooms.
Following the appointment of Mark Allan as chief executive, a review of portfolio and business strategy is now underway with outcomes expected for early summer 2017.
Mark Allan, chief executive of St Modwen, said that despite progress at New Covent Garden Market, its sale still hung in the balance amid continuing industry uncertainties.
Allan said: “Obviously, execution risk has to be considered higher, particularly on such a large and complex transaction, so there’s no guarantee that where we are now will result in a deal any time soon. But it’s certainly moving in the right direction.”
He added: “If we see a transaction announced before our half year at the end of May, I think that would be considered a very good result.”
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