UK Government puts King's Cross stake up for sale for £500 million

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Agent Savills and investment bank Lazard are selling a 42.5% stake on behalf of the Government and deliveries giant DHL in the 67-acre site around King’s Cross and St Pancras station, whose occupiers include Google and advertising agency Havas.

When completed in five years’ time, the scheme could be worth around £5 billion.

The Government holds a 36.5% stake in the project but is selling it under plans announced in July’s Budget to raise around £3 billion through asset sales to cut the deficit.

DHL is also selling its 6% stake.

The other shareholders in the partnership are the estate’s manager, Argent King’s Cross and Hermes Investment Management with 32.5%, and pension fund AustralianSuper, which has 25%.

Transport minister Robert Goodwill said: “By selling the Government’s shares in King’s Cross Central we are selling an asset we don’t need to keep and maximising its value to the taxpayer.”

Savills’ head of central London investment, Stephen Down, added: “This investment not only offers a shareholding in a new London estate but also a leading mixed-use regeneration scheme.

“King’s Cross is a key European gateway to London and in creating a new area of London.”

The estate consists of offices and apartments, as well as 10 new parks and squares, 20 streets and three bridges across the Regent’s Canal.

Its position at the heart of the transport network — with access to six Tube lines as well as national and international rail links — appealed to commercial occupiers