EUROPE – IVG and Beni Stabili have entered into a joint venture with a view to launching a €400m pan-European real estate fund for Italian institutional investors.

German property company IVG has established an Italian SGR subsidiary, in which Italian real estate fund manager Beni Stabili Gestioni has acquired a 5% stake that will increase gradually to 49%.

Both parties have ambitions to raise €400m from Italian investors for a pan-European real estate fund, with the first €100m hoped to be secured by the summer of 2013.

It is the latest example of fund managers seeking to capitalise on growing interest in pan-European real estate strategies among Italian institutional investors.

IVG said the move was part of a geographical expansion of its investment platform, following soon after the acquisition of Hypo Real Invest in 2011, which has since formed the basis of IVG Austria.

Wolfgang Schäfers, CEO of IVG Immobilien, said: "IVG continues to vigorously expand its international investment platform, primarily in order to address new investor groups and thus tap into growth potential for IVG."

Beni Stabili Gestioni manages 13 real estate funds, primarily focused on the Italian real estate market.

Aldo Mazzocco, CEO of Beni Stabili and chairman of Beni Stabili Gestioni, said: "With this partnership we complete our range of skills in the fund management business and we create a common platform with one of the most [reputable] asset managers in Europe."

Michele Stella, managing director of IVG SGR, will remain in the post.