Covent Garden Landlord's Split Seen Creating Two M&A Targets

Splitting up Capital & Counties Properties Plc, the poster child for London’s two-tier property market, may just create two takeover targets instead of one. The company is considering dividing itself into a landlord that owns much of the Covent Garden neighborhood and a developer with land holdings in the Earls Court district. The plan follows prolonged speculation about a takeover of the company, which trades at a big discount to the value of its assets.