Private equity firm Blackstone has sold most of its property holdings in Germany for around €350m Spanish deal1.6bn (£1.1bn).

In a statement today Blackstone said it had sold a majority stake in its Vitus residential subsidiary to a consortium of Round Hill Capital and Morley Fund Management.

‘Today's agreement is the first step for a further widening of the investor base of the Vitus group with the goal of laying the financial groundwork for the group's further growth,’ Blackstone said.

Blackstone bought Vitus, which has more than 31,000 apartments, from German company WCM at the end of 2004.

Deutsche Annington, the German property arm of private equity firm Terra Firma, and rival Gagfah, whose largest shareholder is US investor Fortress, were interested in Vitus.