MALCOLM DALGLEISH is close to completing the sale of his eponymous estate-agency business to CB Richard Ellis for £30m.

Dalgleish, who owns 63% of the firm, according to documents filed at Companies House, will walk away with almost £19m — 14 other directors will receive payments of between £450,000 and £1.3m.

Final negotiations were expected to be completed this weekend and the deal could be announced this week.

The business was founded by Dalgleish in 1979, when he was just 26 years old. In the early days he had only one employee — a secretary. Now he is the UK’s leading retail agent advising both retailers and landlords. Clients include Debenhams, British Land and Philip Green, who owns Arcadia and BHS.

Dalgleish has also acted for Associated British Foods (ABF), and advised on the sale of up to 85 of the 120-store Littlewoods estate acquired by ABF earlier this year.

The acquisition of the firm is a huge coup for CB Richard Ellis. Dalgleish has turned down a string of offers for his company in recent years.

The acquisition will strengthen the existing team at CB Richard Ellis and allow the Dalgleish company to expand into Europe.

New York-quoted CB Richard Ellis is the largest property advisory firm in the world, and was formed in 2004 when CB merged with Insignia Richard Ellis.

Last year Dalgleish hit the headlines after it was revealed that he had bought 100,000 shares in Marks & Spencer ahead of Green’s bid for the retailer.

Dalgleish said he bought the shares because they appeared to be good value at the time.

There was no suggestion of any wrongdoing.

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