Liberty International REIT (LSE: LII) is UK property investment and insurance company. Formerly a plc, it switched to Real Estate Investment Trust status when REITs were introduced in the United Kingdom in January 2007. It is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The company developed into a leading firm in life insurance and pension funds in the 1980s. It later diversified its activities into property investment and has now abandoned its life insurance and pension fund businesses.
The company has property investments of £6.2 billion through its two principal subsidiaries: Capital Shopping Centres and Capital & Counties. The Capital Shopping Centres subsidiary owns the Braehead in Glasgow and the MetroCentre in Gateshead and a number of other UK shopping centres. The Capital & Counties subsidiary invests in both residential and commercial real estate in the UK and also in California in cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Liberty International was founded by Sir Donald Gordon, who previously headed up the Liberty Life Group in South Africa.