British private equity firm Round Hill Capital LLC and other co-owners of Vitus Immobilien Sarl have entered advanced talks to sell the German property group. Vitus will be sold to German residential landlord Deutsche Annington Immobilien SE. Sources told Reuters on Thursday that the deal is expected to be reached by Christmas. The transaction would value Vitus at about €1.3 billion ($1.8 billion).

According to the report, Round Hill is hoping to benefit from the buoyant property valuations in Germany. This friendly condition has helped underpin the stock market floatations of Deutsche Annington and peer real estate group LEG earlier this year. 

Round Hill and its co-investors bought a majority stake in Vitus for €1.6 billion in 2007. The consortium acquired the holding from American private equity firm Blackstone Group. Round Hill and other Vitus co-owners had been looking for an exit for several years, Reuters said. 

Bloomberg in a separate report said Blackstone bought Vitus for €1.39 billion in 2004. It has retained a 25% stake in the company even after the Round Hill deal, Reuters said.