BT has secured the £2.3 billion sale of its property portfolio in a move that could see its debt mountain fall to just £13 billion.

The deal with Telereal Holdings Limited - a 50:50 joint venture owned by Land Securities Trillium and The William Pears Group - is subject to Telereal raising the cash on the bond markets.

Sir Christopher Bland, Chairman of BT, said: "This represents a further step forward in BT's drive for cash and the reduction of its headline debt, while at the same time outsourcing a non-core competency."

Today's announcement means that that BT's debt - on paper at least - has fallen to around £13 billion.

It raised £2.14 billion with the sale of its Yellow Pages business. Its interests in Japan and Spain raised £4.4 billion; Malaysia contributed a further £0.35 billion. If the rights issue succeeds that will generate £5.9 billion and today's announcement will chalk-up £2.3 billion - a total of £15.09 billion wiped off its £27.9 billion debt mountain.

Of course, not all the cash has been banked yet and there's still a long way to go - but hey, it's a start. At least it should keep the bailiffs away for another week or so. ®