Liberty store up for sale at £50m

LIBERTY'S flagship store on London's Regent Street is expected to change hands over the next couple of weeks in a sale and leaseback deal worth around £50m.

Final-round bids went in this week from a handful of pension funds and high net worth individuals willing to pay up to a 10% premium over the store's latest valuation, sources said.

The sale of the site is part of Liberty's plans under chairman Richard Balfour-Lynn revealed in January to eliminate the retailer's £50m of bank debt.

A buyer will pay Liberty cash to take its 46-year lease of the building with freeholder the Crown Estates Commissioners, in return for Liberty paying an annual rent under a new sub-lease.

Any new owner will take on 63,193 square feet of retail and office space, including Liberty and Gap as tenants, which yields a net rental income of £3.4m a year after paying 17% of total rents received to the Crown Estates, sales documents reveal.

Liberty's ultimate owner, developer Marylebone Warwick Balfour, last valued Liberty's net assets at £53.5m, around £47m of which is thought to be for the Regent Street store.