Dawnay Day's property empire for sale

Dawnay Day's administrator said yesterday that it had received hundreds of inquiries about the failed investment company's property assets as it put the portfolio up for sale.

The administrator, BDO Stoy Hayward, is ready to sell more than 200 investment properties with total rents of about £45m. The administrator said it wanted to sell the investments to a single buyer but would consider breaking them up between a small number of purchasers.

Rivals have been running the rule over Dawnay Day's property empire, expecting to pick up sound assets at a fraction of their value because of the stricken company's need to raise cash quickly.

The falling UK property market is not directly responsible for the forced sale of the investments, which include a 50 per cent stake in the owner of London's upmarket Wolseley restaurant. Dawnay Day's sprawling empire imploded last month after it was forced to put up cash to fund an investment in F&C Asset Management after the fund manager's share price fell.

The real estate is made up of three portfolios: Starlight Investments, Insureprofit, and Dawnay Day Properties. The properties are mostly retail assets as well as some industrial and office buildings.

Guy Naggar, 67, and Peter Klimt, 63, built the group from a shell operation in 1981 into a property and financial services conglomerate. The two built up the business through investing in UK commercial property and financial services start-ups. Before the collapse, it had $4bn (£2.15bn) in assets and $6bn under management for clients.