A company owned by one of Israel's richest men disclosed yesterday that it is in talks to buy a stake in the City of London's famous Broadgate office complex from British Land.

Property and Building, which is controlled by Nochi Dankner, the billionaire, said in a statement to the Tel Aviv stock exchange that it was in the initial stages of buying a stake in Broadgate for £100m. Harel, Israel's third-biggest insurance company, said separately that it was looking at investing about £45m.

Under the deal being proposed, the pair would also take on a sizeable part of the £2bn of debt that is secured on Broadgate, which — along with the cash they are putting in — could give them a half-share in the 32-acre office development, which was developed by British Land and Rosehaugh Stanhope Developments from the mid 1980s.

The Times