BlackRock has sold a UK residential development unit to Telereal Trillium.

The Lands Improvement company was held in BlackRock Real Estate’s Europe Property Fund III and inherited by the investment manager when it took over MGPA in 2013.

Chris McCormack, director at BlackRock Real Estate, said: “Lands Improvement has undergone significant change in the last six years and has a strong track record in sourcing and executing land transactions.”

McCormack said BlackRock had realised a “good return” for investors.

“The business’s healthy pipeline of deals will allow it to thrive further in the future,” he added.

Lands Improvement, which dates back to 1853, manages 26 land sites in the UK, with 2,500 acres and an estimated pipeline of 13,000 homes.

Graham Edwards, chief executive at Telereal Trillium, owned by the Bernard Pears group and an employee benefit trust, said the deal gave the company a “great platform to make the most of the assets it already owns, to make further investments into new sites and to add value to sites within Telereal Trillium’s existing nationwide portfolio”.