Land Securities Group PLC LAND

DJ UPDATE: PCP Capital To Buy London Ppty From Land Sec For GBP234M -Sources

--PCP Capital Partners to buy London site from Land Securities for GBP234 million

--Deal expected to close later Wednesday, people familiar with the matter say

--Gross development value of London site seen around GBP1 billion

(Adds details, background throughout.)

By Asa Fitch

Of ZAWYA DOW JONES

DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--PCP Capital Partners, an investment firm headed by U.K. banker Amanda Staveley, is expected to close a GBP234 million deal later Wednesday to buy a central London site from Land Securities Group PLC (LAND.LN), one of the U.K.'s largest real estate firms, people familiar with the matter said.

The site, located between the River Thames and the strand in Central London and once occupied by the Howard Hotel, is to be redeveloped by PCP and its investors into a multi-use development with offices, apartments and hotel rooms, one person close to the transaction said.

"The whole thing will be redeveloped and completed by 2015, and the gross development value is around GBP1 billion," he added.

PCP is making the purchase through a vehicle backed by numerous investors, some of whom are from the Middle East, the person said. Staveley is renowned for her connections to power players in the Arab Gulf, and has played a major role in brokering a number of transactions for members of the region's wealthy royal families.

Staveley is currently advising Abu Dhabi and its ruling family on their potential purchase of a stake in the U.K. state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.LN). She has also acted as an advisor for Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan on his investment in Barclays PLC (BCS) in 2008 and his purchase of the Manchester City football club the same year.

-By Asa Fitch, Dow Jones Newswires, +971 4 446-1685, asa.fitch@dowjones.com

(Marietta Cauchi in London contributed to this article.)

Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Co.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 28, 2012 09:02 ET (13:02 GMT)