Brixton is in talks to sell more than £200m of properties held in a joint venture to private equity group Westbrook Partners in an effort to improve its balance sheet.

The troubled real estate investment trust is close to agreeing a deal to sell Equiton, a £225m industrial portfolio it partly owns alongside partners such as the property arm of Prudential.

The sale of the Equiton stake is part of a wider disposal of assets that the company began this year to reduce its debt burden, including some of the best estates in its west London heartland. It has sold a portfolio of properties to AEW Europe, the fund manager.

The Equiton fund, which comprises about 42 multi-let estates around Brixton’s core market in south-east England, expires in September and its other partners are also looking to sell.

Westbrook Partners is expected to take the portfolio under offer in the next few days. Brixton declined to comment: Westbrook was unavailable for comment.

Financial Times