US tax haven firms may buy Land Registry

TWO American private equity firms with links to tax havens are among those planning bids for the Land Registry when it is privatised.

It emerged yesterday that all the potential bidders are foreign and have connections with secretive business jurisdictions including the Cayman Islands, Jersey and the US state of Delaware.

While entirely legal, it has angered those campaigning against the proposed sell-off. More than 280,000 have signed a petition opposing it, and the Competition and Markets Authority has also objected.

Business Secretary Sajid Javid is spearhead- ing efforts to offload the national property ownership database, which collects information on every house sale in England and Wales and is valued at more than £1.2billion.

The Land Registry holds 24million titles for the ownership of properties. The information is available to the public at a small charge and plays a key role in the property market, for example in house price reports.

The News Media Association has warned the sell-off poses a threat to investigative journalism as charges to access the information could be increased.

Those reported to be interested in buying the registry include Omers, a Canadian pension fund, and US private equity firms Advent International and Hellman & Friedman.

According to an investigation by The Times, all three have links with Delaware, which has a reputation for corporate secrecy. They also have subsidiaries in tax havens including Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Jersey.

Campaigner Trish Murray said: ‘Do we really want to sell the registry off to companies with connections to offshore tax havens?’