US investor Capstone Equities Manager’s bid to acquire a 33% stake in an Italian closed-end fund has been approved.
Managed by Vegagest SGR, the Fondo Europa Immobiliare N.1 fund is listed on MIV.
The fund will be Capstone’s first operation in Italy.
The country’s financial regulator, Consob, approved the deal yesterday.
Fondo Europa, which owns 13 commercial real estate assets in Italy and abroad, is backed by several Italian banks and insurance companies.
Capstone will now acquire 37,423 shares in Fondo Europa Immobiliare N.1 at €710 per share – a premium of 22.4% on the funds’ NAV per share at the beginning of this month and 13.8% on the weighted average NAV per share over the past 12 months.
Capstone made the offer through Irish vehicle SP 101 Finance Ireland and Capstone Equities Capital Management, a US investment fund.
The company currently invests 80% of its assets in Europe.
The transaction is the third in the last year of a US investor buying shares in a closed-end Italian real estate fund on the secondary market.
Recently, Gwm and Eurocastle bid for 40% of Unicredito Immobiliare Uno, and Blackstone targeted Atlantic 1 of Idea Fimit.
The original closing date for Fondo Europa Immobiliare N.1 was 2014, but this has been pushed back to 2017 and may even be pushed further to 2019.
Among the assets of Fondo Europa Immobiliare N.1 is a logistics centre in Levate, near Bergamo, and a building in the Netherlands in Amstelveeen.
