CIC set to buy London business park from Blackstone - FT

(Reuters) - China Investment Corporation is set to buy Chiswick Park, a west-London office development, from U.S. private equity group Blackstone for about 800 million pounds, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The talks are at an advanced stage and a deal could be finalised before end of November, the FT said (http://link.reuters.com/kyv54v)

If successful, the deal would be the second acquisition by CIC in the UK property market after it bought Deutsche Bank's City of London headquarters last year, the newspaper added.

Real estate has been the chief driver of Blackstone's financial success and it has moved aggressively to sell or take public its real estate assets. Brixmor Property Group Inc, the shopping centre operator owned by Blackstone, raised $825 million (515.4 million pounds) its initial public offering last month.

On its 33-acre site, Chiswick Park leases out office space to companies including Qualcomm, Tullow Oil Plc and Ranbaxy.

Blackstone declined to comment on the matter and CIC could not be reached outside regular business hours.

(Reporting by Abhirup Roy in Bangalore; editing by Christopher Wilson)