The largest portfolio of homes in the UK is up for sale, and could be yours for just £3 billion.
portfolio: 公文包;文件夹;证券投资组合;部长职务
be up for: 准备好
Iranian-born tycoon Vincent Tchenguiz is looking to sell the freehold for 250,000 properties, which represents one percent of the UK's entire housing stock.
freehold: 不动产所有权
The sale has been exclusively targeted at sovereign wealth funds, according to the FT.
sovereign wealth funds: 主权财富基金
Forty percent of the homes and apartments are in the South East of England, with 15,000 properties alone in London.
Mr Tchenguiz is acting on behalf of the Tchenguiz Family Trust and has spoken to investment bank Lazard to help sell the portfolio, which comes with £2 billion worth of debts.
The homes have an average remaining lease of 60 years, after which the properties will revert back to the freehold owner or be re-leased.
lease: 租约;租期;租赁物;租赁权
Mr Tchenguiz told the FT the portfolio would give any buyer a safe and long-running exposure to UK house price growth.
He said there had been 'several expressions of interest in the portfolio'. He added that he had not decided what he would use the proceeds of the sale for.
Mr Tchenguiz, along with his brother Robert, were arrested in March 2011 as part of an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office, into the collapse of Icelandic bank Kaupthing.
Serious Fraud Office: 英国重大欺诈案件调查局
They were questioned for 13 hours, and hundreds of documents and computer files were seized. They were eventually released without charge.
Mr Tchenguiz is known for his love of parties which are adorned by good-looking young women. On one occasion Mr Tchenguiz sent all the girls at one party with £2,000 spending money each to go on a shopping trip in St Tropez.
He was born in Tehran in 1956 and moved to London in 1980, as a senior vice-president of Prudential Bache, after completing university in Boston, Montreal and New York.
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