BAe sells property unit for pounds 285m

BRITISH AEROSPACE has sold its Arlington property unit for pounds 285m to a group led by Pricoa Property Investment Management, a subsidiary of the American giant Prudential Insurance, as it withdraws from the property business. BAe said it will take a one-time loss of pounds 18m and a pounds 4m charge for goodwill on the sale of Arlington, the UK's largest owner and operator of business parks.

BAe, which bought Arlington for pounds 278m in 1989, has been selling off peripheral businesses bought in the 1980s, raising cash to take part in the reorganisation of Europe's defence industry.