Quintain targets £150m in sell-offs as it focuses on London

Quintain is aiming for about £150m in property sell-offs as it funnels resources into its vast Greenwich and Wembley developments in London and cuts debt, the company said yesterday.

Weak property markets outside the capital dragged on the firm in the six months to September as the value of its overall portfolio slipped £19.1m, or 1.7 per cent, to £1.11bn.

The chief executive, Max James, said: "[The regional property] only accounts for around 10 per cent of the portfolio but there has been a bit of a drag on the valuation."

Proceeds from the sales will be spent on Wembley and the Greenwich peninsula. Quintain hopes to build 15,000 homes in the two areas over the next 10 to 15 years, as well as cutting its debt below £400m by March 2014. Momentum behind the Greenwich scheme has risen since Quintain struck a joint-venture deal with Knight Dragon, the private investment vehicle of Hong Kong billionaire Henry Cheng Kar-Shun.