HBOS eyes property group Quintain: paper

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's biggest mortgage lender, HBOS Plc HBOS.L, is in the early stages of planning a 1.2 billion pound ($2.44 billion) takeover bid for property group Quintain Estates & Development Plc (QED.L), The Sunday Times reported.

HBOS declined to comment.

No one at Quintain was available for comment, but the company had said on Friday that HBOS had acquired a 12.4 percent stake in the firm.

The paper said that no formal decision has been made to proceed with a takeover bid, but it quoted City sources that HBOS was working on preliminary plans under which Quintain would be taken private.

Quintain, which is working on regenerating the area near the new Wembley Stadium and the Greenwich peninsula, reported a 25.5 percent rise in net asset value in the year to end-March.

Shares in Quintain closed 4.7 percent higher at 895 pence on Friday, valuing the firm at 1.16 billion pounds ($2.36 billion).