Since September, the company has repurchased just under 4% of common stock, the largest single lot being 6.6m shares bought last week. British Land has long been under pressure from shareholders and analysts to buy back some of its shares but chairman John Ritblat had resisted the pressure on the grounds that he would rather invest the money in property.

Until now the company is the only one in the sector to have refused to take advantage of the arbitrage between weak share prices and a strong investment market for real estate. But the City did not appreciate his strategy and the company's shares have traded at some of the biggest discounts to net asset value of and underperformed the sector in four of the last five years.

The shareholders mounted a protest last year when 46% of those voting refused to back the reappointment of Ritblat as chairman and chief executive. The joint role has also been criticised by senior fund managers who argue that it does not fit with modern corporate governance and gives one person too much power. The company has since said it will split the roles.

At the same time as pushing for Ritblat to step down, some of the shareholders introduced a motion requiring the company to buy back shares. Ritblat appears to have bowed to pressure with the repurchases over the last few months of the shares.