BPT, the UK's largest quoted residential landlord, is on the verge of being taken private after a highly competitive auction that has forced the buyers to offer a premium to net asset value rather than the normal discount.

The successful bidders, a fifty-fifty partnership between Deutsche Bank's private equity group and rival property group Grainger Trust, are offering £477m (€757m) cash for the old Bradford Property Trust. The recommended offer values each BPT share at 321p, some 3% higher than net asset value after tax of an estimated 312p.