US private equity major Blackstone has sold 57 per cent of its stake in Cineworld, the British cinema chain, for about £62.9 million in a secondary placing.

At the same time, Blackstone confirmed the purchase of a 50 per cent stake in the Broadgate complex in the City of London from British Land Company for £77 million. Blackstone will also take on half of British Land's £1.97 billion debt.

"The transaction increases our capacity for profitable investment opportunities elsewhere as we reinvest in more diversified, liquid assets," Chris Grigg, the chief executive of British Land, said.

"You'll see us start to ratchet up the activity level in real estate, hopefully we've got three new deals that will be announced in the next week or so," Tony James, Blackstone's chief operating officer, said.

"I think we'll have a couple of decent quarters as you get inventory rebuilding...that will translate to a couple of quarters of very strong earnings, but, longer term, we think the recovery will be grudging and slow," James added.

The British Land said the joint venture with the Blackstone Group, together with the Meadowhall joint venture, will put the company in a very strong position by reducing its group loan to value ratio to 30 per cent.