AXA Real Estate and Apollo Global are to pay €303m for a portfolio of Italian retail properties being sold by Prelios.
The Italian fund manager said the entire portfolio of 26 properties from its Olinda mutual fund would be sold by year-end to the joint venture.
Prelios said it would then liquidate the Milan-listed fund at expiry. A first equity reimbursement to unitholders – of at least €85 per unit – will be made upon completion.
Apollo’s European Principal Finance Fund II and AXA Real Estate will buy the 26-asset portfolio at a 28% discount to 2013 values. The portfolio is spread mainly across northern Italy.
Prelios has been selling properties from the fund, which was established in 2004 with an initial portfolio of 42 assets worth €743m.
Last month, AXA Real Estate launched an Italian fund structured through an SGR (Societa’ di Gestione del Risparmio) for two AXA insurance companies. AXA Assicurazioni and AXA MPS both committed to the new fund, which has an initial investment capacity of €350m and could invest up to €700m in European commercial real estate directly or through funds.
AXA Real Estate also manages the Caesar Fund and the fully-invested Core Italian Properties Fund (CIPF), reserved for Italian institutional investors.
