Ask considers selling stake to Infinity

Ask Developments boss Ken Knott is in talks with private equity house Infinity Asset Management over selling a substantial stake in his business.

A joint statement said: "Talks are at a preliminary stage and there is no guarantee that a stake in Ask will be taken, but Infinity believes Ask boasts both an outstanding management team and an exciting portfolio of development projects and sites."

Infinity's £100m property fund is run by Les Lang, former managing director of Ask's city living subsidiary Abito. Infinity was launched in January 2007 and Lang joined a year later.

Ask's development pipeline includes large schemes at the early stages of design and construction with minimal income generation, including Urmston town centre, Greengate in Salford and First Street in Manchester city centre.

Knott sold a 25% stake to Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund in 2006. Last year Morgan Stanley injected £20m into Ask.