BT has selected a 50:50 joint venture between Land Securities Trillium and the William Pears Group, called Telereal, as its preferred bidder for the BT property portfolio. The news follows last month’s announcement that Mapeley was short listed together with Land Securities Trillium (see News story).

William Pears is a family-run business established in the mid-fifties (the Pears family is reported to have a £500m fortune) with interests in residential and commercial property.

The telecommunication company’s property estate totals 6m sq m (64m sq ft), although the outsourcing agreement would allow BT the flexibility to vacate approximately 1m sq m (10m sq ft) of property within the first ten years at no additional cost.

Of the 7,500 properties, BT will retain freehold and exclusive control of the operational buildings, which comprise 70% of the entire portfolio. The transaction is expected to complete during the summer.

Geoffrey Almeida, chief executive of BT Business Services, said: "I am delighted to be able to work with Trillium towards finalising our alliance. This transaction will be the largest UK property deal to date and has great potential to deliver comprehensive benefits to BT. The proposed alliance with Trillium would also represent an exciting opportunity for BT people in our Property division as they would be able to develop and build their expertise with a leading real estate company. This was a very close competition as we had excellent bids from both Trillium and Mapeley."

Chief executive of Land Securities Trillium, Manish Chande, commented: "We are delighted BT has chosen us as its preferred bidder for this unique property transaction. Our alliance with BT opens up an exciting new phase in the development of Land Securities Trillium. We recognise that the skills and experience the people in the BT Property team would bring would be extremely valuable as we look to build our relationship with BT."

This deal follows the appointment of the Land Securities Trillium bid, Insight, as preferred bidder for the BBC’s proposed property partnership with the private sector (see News story). The company is also bidding for the London Underground Property Partnership (LUPP) PFI contract.

Jessica Jarlvi