No Broadgate buy for British Land

British Land's chief executive, Chris Grigg, has ruled out a swoop to buy back the 50 per cent stake in Broadgate, the City's biggest office estate, that it sold near the bottom of the market to Blackstone three years ago.

The property giant sold the share in the £3bn development around Liverpool Street station to the fund manager to help shore up its balance sheet in the wake of the financial crisis.

Mr Grigg said: "There were good reasons why we took ourselves down to 50 per cent. It was about giving us strategic room to invest in the West End developments.

"We would not typically expect to buy it back, although we expect there will be plenty of interest."

Blackstone paid £77m for the stake in Broadgate and took on £987m of debt, but its equity stake is now thought to be closer to £800m.