By Nick Wilson

Capital & Counties, a wholly owned subsidiary of UK-based property company Liberty International, announced yesterday that its joint venture with Great Portland Estates had agreed to acquire six properties for 159,5m.

The transaction would bring the value of the property portfolio of the 50:50 London joint venture, The Great Capital Partnership, to about 620m.

Gary Marcuccilli, an executive director of Capital & Counties, said yesterday the rationale for Capital & Counties' formation of the joint venture partnership earlier this year had been to work with Great Portland, a specialist in central London property, to "exploit the synergies in the overall portfolio, particularly with regards to Crown Estate property".

Marcuccilli said about two-thirds of the Great Capital Partnership's portfolio consisted of property owned by the Crown Estate. This was property in effect owned by the Queen of England.

The venture has secured long leases on these properties.

The six properties, a combination of retail properties and offices, were acquired in four separate transactions.

Marcuccilli said most of the properties were fully let.

Robert Noel, property director at Great Portland Estates, said the transactions brought in six further properties in "first-class locations with asset management opportunities and very good prospects for rental growth".

"Three of the assets, when combined with their neighbouring properties, provide larger scale development opportunities which further augment our near and medium-term development pipeline," said Noel.

Earlier this month, Capital & Counties also announced it was acquiring 50% of Earls Court and Olympia Group Venues, a company that ran a conferencing and exhibition business out of Earls Court and Olympia. That stake was acquired for 55m and the acquisition took into account all assets, debt and other liabilities of the business.