Birmingham City Council has announced plans to sell off the NEC Group, which includes the National Exhibition Centre and two arenas.
The council, which said the sale was not linked to its equal pay bill, said private ownership of the group would enable it to exploit future growth opportunities.
Sir Albert Bore, leader of Birmingham City Council, said: ‘A key purpose of the City Council investing in establishing the NEC Group more than 30 years ago was to drive economic development and regeneration.
‘This has been achieved, but now the NEC Group has reached a point in its evolution where it needs to be able to adopt the financial disciplines of a private, rather than a council-owned company to enable the next stage of strategic development. In doing so, economic impact and job creation can be preserved and enhanced.’
The NEC Group supports 29,000 jobs in the region and delivers over £2bn a year to the local economy. The council said protecting this economic impact was a key objective for the sale.
It also intends to retain ‘claw-back’ rights over certain land at the site for future development linked to the HS2 station.
