The shareholders of Beni Stabili Gestioni SGR, Investire Immobiliare SGR and Polaris Real Estate SGR have approved a merger between the three Italian fund managers.

The move will create a new entity with €7bn of institutional assets under management and a portfolio of more than 30 funds.

The new company will focus mainly on social housing, as announced by Fondazione Cariplo, majority shareholder of Polaris Real Estate SGR.

It is expected that the merged company will be the second-largest real estate fund manager in the country after IDeA Fimit.

The merger between the three managers was announced earlier this year. Last week the shareholders signed a final agreement outlining the governance and ownership structure of the new company, which is expected to start operating in January 2015 after regulators give a final go-ahead.

Mediobanca and Lazard are acting as advisers within the transaction, according to reports in Italian media.

The agreement was signed by Beni Stabili, the listed owner of Beni Stabili SGR, Banca Finnat Euramerica, which controls Investire Immobiliare SGR, and the shareholders of Polaris Real Estate SGR, which are Fondazione Cariplo, Italian surveyors’ pension scheme CIPAG and Fondazione Cassa di dei Risparmi di Forlì.

An SGR (or società di gestione del risparmio) is a platform dedicated to managing real estate funds under local regulations for institutional investors.

Beni Stabili, an Italian REIT (or SIIQ) has been in the news recently as its board approved a €150m capital increase and new bank loans worth €500m, aimed at repaying debt that was used to finance a property portfolio leased to Telecom Italia.

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