King Charles property chief in talks for slice of HS2 Euston

Friday 16 Might 2025 3:41 pm
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Friday 16 Might 2025 3:42 pm

King Charles’ property firm is in talks to purchase up a part of HS2’s Euston web site from its floundering proprietor, based on experiences.

The Crown Property, led by Dan Labbad, is in talks with the Australian developer Lendlease for a 50 per cent stake in six main UK initiatives, an announcement on the Australian Inventory Alternate confirmed earlier this week.

Labbad and Lendlease already know one another nicely. He beforehand served in a twin function as head of Lendlease’s Europe and worldwide operations.

The deal is predicted to be valued at £22bn as soon as improvement is full.

Inclusion of the Euston station web site within the deal, which was reported by the Telegraph, would come as a lift for the Division for Transport (DfT).

Ministers have been in a race to seek out personal funding to safe its future as prices for HS2’s deliberate terminus soar to greater than £7.5bn.

Any involvement of the Crown Property might put additional scrutiny on Lendlease, which has come underneath the microscope previously for its shut ties to senior figures at HS2.

Former HS2 chair Sir David Higgins and a key member of the undertaking’s procurement workforce each beforehand held top-level positions on the agency.

Property tycoon Michael Gross, the previous proprietor of the Euston web site who led a failed bid for its redevelopment, mentioned of Labbad’s former function: “After all it’s a battle of curiosity he was concerned with Lendlease earlier than.”

Lendlease flew into the highlight earlier this yr after the agency offered a part of its loss-making UK enterprise to the US personal fairness agency, Atlas Holdings.

The deal positioned the way forward for the corporate’s UK improvement contracts into uncertainty at a vital level within the long-running saga over HS2’s spiralling prices.

It’s at the moment within the strategy of winding down its complete worldwide operation amid a re-focus on its dwelling nation Australia.

A spokesperson for Lendlease mentioned: “As a publicly listed firm, we don’t touch upon hypothesis.”

A spokesperson for the Crown Property declined to touch upon market rumours.