Vornado Realty Trust on Thursday sold a stake in a portfolio of prime New York retail properties along Fifth Avenue and Broadway in Times Square for about $1.2 billion in cash in a deal in which it retains majority control of the assets.

The transaction created a joint venture with unnamed institutional investors that valued the portfolio of seven retail sites and other assets at $5.56 billion, said Vornado, a real estate investment trust, said in a statement.

The retail assets are among the scarcest and most valuable in the world, Vornado Chairman Steve Roth said in the statement.

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