A real Regent St sale as foreign investors get chance to buy it

London's most famous shopping street is being offered to foreign investors in a historic deal.

Properties in Regent Street, home to retailers including Hamleys, Apple and Ferrari, would be seen as a "trophy asset" to foreign investors.

The move by the Crown Estate, which gives all its profits to the Treasury, would cash in on the recession-defying success of retailers in the area.

The Estate is likely to use any capital injection to help support the £750 million redevelopment of Regent Street and boost other areas of its portfolio including the St James's area.

Stores have enjoyed strong sales thanks to the weak pound making prices more attractive to tourists.

Today Roger Bright, the chief executive of the Crown Estate, confirmed the firm was in "early stage" talks over its £1.6 billion portfolio of shops and offices on the street.

He expected the discussions to have made "good progress" by the end of the year.

Members of the Qatari royal family, which recently bought Harrods and the Chelsea Barracks site, are understood to be visiting London at the moment.

Mr Bright declined to disclose whom the organisation was talking to over the sale, but in February he highlighted "sovereign funds", owned by foreign governments, as possible partners.

He said: "It could be sovereign funds, it could be institutional investors — from either within the UK or overseas — and there are some very big pension funds in other countries, such as Canada, Spain and Scandinavia and so on."

The estate, which includes half of Britain's coastline, Ascot racecourse and shopping centres in Oxford and Exeter, used to be owned by the monarchy until George III gave it to the state 250 years ago in return for a fixed annual payment from the Treasury, the Civil List. The Crown Estate is aiming to reduce its exposure to Regent Street, which accounts for a quarter of its assets.

Meanwhile, the Queen has been forced to sell one of her country estates, raising £1 million to help cover the growing hole in her funds. Handley Hall in Cheshire was auctioned by the Duchy of Lancaster, the Queen's national property portfolio which provides the monarch with a private income.