HSBC Holdings, Europe’s biggest bank, may unload three of its landmark office buildings, including the Canary Wharf world headquarters in London, to raise cash as it tries to avoid a bailout from the British government.

HSBC is gauging interest in its 45-story tower at 8 Canada Square in London, its Fifth Avenue skyscraper in New York and its Paris offices on the Avenue des Champs Elysees, said Ruth Lavelle, a London-based spokeswoman for HSBC.

The Sunday Times of London reported the potential sales at a combined asking price of 2.7 billion pounds ($3.96 billion). The newspaper didn’t include the source of its information and Lavelle, in an e-mail, said she couldn’t confirm a price.

The London-based bank is seeking to sell at a time when financing for commercial real estate is difficult and values are falling.

In New York, transactions dropped 40 percent in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, according to broker Cushman & Wakefield, and UK values fell 29 percent in the 12 months through February, Investment Property Databank Ltd. said in a March 13 report.