Property giant to decide on Trillium sale

Property giant Land Securities will decide at a board meeting in two weeks whether to sell its Trillium outsourcing and infrastructure business.

A source close to Land Securities said that the leading bid – a consortium of investment bank Macquarie, Goldman Sachs' Whitehall fund and the William Pears-owned Telereal – is at "the lower end of the group's desire". This would suggest around £1.1bn; adviser UBS is known to have asked for £1.4bn.

If the board feels that this undervalues the business, Land Securities chief executive Francis Salway will press ahead with earlier plans for a demerger.

There are believed to be two other remaining bidders. One, almost certainly Australian property group Lend Lease, is understood to be keen on Trillium's Private Finance Initiative investments. There is speculation that a second is interested in the remainder of Trillium's portfolio, which includes managing properties for the Department for Work and Pensions.