Adler Group sells 20% of property portfolio to LEG Immobilien

BERLIN (Reuters) -German real estate investor Adler Group said on Monday it had agreed to sell residential and commercial property worth 1.49 billion euros ($1.73 billion) to rival LEG Immobilien in a bid to reduce its debt.

Adler expects net proceeds from the transaction, which should take place by end-2021, to be around 800 million euros.

The sales price for the 15,350 apartments and 185 commercial units will be slightly below the property valuation as Adler will keep a 10.1% stake for tax reasons, it added.

Shares in Adler rose 3.3% in early Frankfurt trading after the announcement.

Adler said the deal would have no impact on its 2021 outlook for Net Rental Income and FFO 1.

On Friday, German real estate company Vonovia said it had bought an option to acquire around 13% of Adler, whose shares had tumbled as much as 33% after an activist investor described it as "not investible". Adler disputes the report.

($1 = 0.8637 euros)

(Reporting by Zuzanna Szymanska, Editing by Louise HeavensEditing by Riham Alkousaa)