Jan 1 (Reuters) - Private equity firm Terra Firma is in talks to sell residential property company Annington Homes, with any deal expected to value the British defence ministry"s landlord at over 9 billion pounds ($12.18 billion) including debt, Sky News reported on Saturday. Annington is one of the largest private owners of residential property in the United Kingdom. A majority of its 40,000 homes are leased to the Ministry Of Defence on a 200-year contract. Terra Firma, which is headed by billionaire Guy Hands, bought Annington from Nomura Holdings (8604.T) in a deal worth 3.2 billion pounds in 2012. Hands was also behind Nomura’s purchase of Annington in 1996, when he worked at the Japanese bank. The Sky News report said that Hands was believed currently to own roughly a third of Annington"s equity, implying a personal payout of more than 1.5 billion pounds from any deal. Both companies did not immediately respond to Reuters" request for comments. The report said Annington"s valuation included about 4 billion pounds of debt.