Owner of London's Regent Street Shortlists Bidders for Asset Investment

The British monarchy’s property manager has drawn up a shortlist of bidders for a 25 percent stake in Regent Street, the shopping strip in the heart of London’s West End district.

The Crown Estate plans “detailed discussions” with the “limited number” of bidders before it proceeds with the partial sale, according to a statement today. It didn’t identify the investors. The Crown Estate manages real estate originating from ancestral land and property holdings exchanged by the monarchy in 1760 for annual payments.

The Crown Estate has been talking with potential investors, including sovereign wealth funds and pension funds, in a second attempt to raise money for a 750 million-pound ($1.15 billion) redevelopment of Regent Street and for other investments. A year ago, the corporation’s board blocked proposals to establish a fund that would sell units, saying the plan was too complex.

Regent Street, between Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Street, is the Crown Estate’s biggest asset and was valued at 1.6 billion pounds in the fiscal year ended March 31.

The Crown Estate owns the freehold of Regent Street, which was finished in 1825 in one of the biggest projects in central London’s history as a dedicated shopping strip separating the neighborhoods of Mayfair and Soho. Apple Inc., Hamleys Plc and Burberry Group Plc have stores there.

The 1956 and 1961 Crown Estate Acts prohibit the corporation from borrowing or investing in anything other than U.K. property and government bonds. Any profit from asset sales is reinvested and net rental income generated by the properties passes directly to the U.K. Treasury.

To contact the reporter on this story: Simon Packard in London at packard@bloomberg.net.

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