Consortium told £950m Trillium buyout will be 'over by Christmas'

Land Securities reassures William Pears that despite 'protracted timescales' the deal is still on

Land Securities, the FTSE 100 property giant, has told the consortium bidding for its Trillium outsourcing division that it hopes to conclude the £950m deal around Christmas.

The company has moved to calm fears that the sale could be pulled after its half-year results last week revealed a pre-tax loss of £1.7bn. Land Securities said that the sale was still being worked on, but "timescales for transactions are protracted in the current environment".

A source close to the bidding consortium, which includes property investor William Pears group and Australian bank Macquarie, said: "The information we're getting is that the deal is still on. If it goes through, Trillium should be sold at the end of this year or early next."

Meanwhile the Middle Eastern investors linked to the deal earlier in the year, are understood to be keen to bid for the outsourcing arm. "We are still very much interested in pursuing this. We haven't given up yet," said a Middle Eastern source.

A Land Securities spokesman said: "We're not going to make predictions and ultimately [the timing] will depend on what sort of deal it is."

The William Pears consortium is keen to buy the £1.4bn division without its Accor Hotels portfolio, which is why the sale price is below £1bn.

Land Securities also confirmed on Wednesday that it has postponed plans to demerge its £15bn UK retail and London portfolios.

Francis Salway, Land Securities' chief executive, said: "Our plans for demerger were about creating shareholder value. If the costs of transitioning debt in the current environment are so great that it wouldn't create shareholder value then we should stop. And that's exactly what we've done."

Land Securities also announced last week that a non-executive director, Alison Carnwath, will take over as chairman from Lord Myners, who left to become the City minister.