UK property company Liberty to split its business -FT

LONDON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Liberty International, one of the UK's largest listed property companies, is to split its 2.8 billion pound ($4.45 billion) business in one of the biggest corporate restructurings in the UK real estate sector, the Financial Times reported in its Friday edition.

A spokesman for Liberty could not be reached for comment.

The company plans to divide its UK property portfolio into two listed companies, the FT said. Its shopping centres would be split off into a real estate investment trust (REIT) while its London properties would be run as a separate listed company, the report said, without citing sources. It said an announcement on the plan could be made as soon as this month.

The REIT would have a market capitalisation of more than 2 billion pounds and the London property company would have an initial value of about 1 billion pounds, the Financial Times said.

Rothschild was overseeing the demerger while UBS and Merrill Lynch were likely advisers, the newspaper said.

On Thursday, buyout company Pension Insurance Corporation said it would insure Liberty's pension liabilities as the property company seeks to reduce risks in its pension scheme.

(Reporting by Susan Fenton; Editing by Gary Hill) ($1=.6299 Pound) Keywords: LIBERTY/FT (Reuters messaging: [e-mail]; [phone]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.