Land Securities has sold half of its interest in the Empress State building in London’s Earls Court to Liberty International, its FTSE 100 property peer, for about £108m.

The companies have created a 50-50 joint venture vehicle to hold the 470,000 sq ft building, which has been refinanced through a £159m facility with Abbey UK Corporate Banking and Eurohypo.

The sale was carried out at about the book value as of March, when Land Securities last carried out a valuation of its portfolio.

Financial Times