PGIM Real Estate has acquired three fully-let logistics assets in Italy on behalf of the investors in its European core strategy.

The real estate manager has paid an undisclosed sum to buy the assets in Northern Italy.

PGIM Real Estate said the first two properties are newly built warehouses totalling 40,000sqm located in the Milan logistics sub-market of the Lombardy region and the third property is a 45,000sqm warehouse in the Emilia Romagna region.

CBRE Global Investors is it sold the asset in the Emilia Romagna region to PGIM Real Estate on behalf of its European Industrial Fund. The asset was acquired by CBRE Global Investors in 2007.

Sebastiano Ferrante, deputy head of Europe and head of Italy at PGIM Real Estate, said driven by robust e-commerce activities, logistics take-up in Italy reached a record high in 2020 – despite the challenging macroeconomic environment due to Covid-19.

“However, while the market share for e-commerce has increased significantly in Italy over the past decade, penetration is still low. This means there remains substantial catch-up potential relative to more mature markets, such as the UK and Germany.

“Both the Lombardy and Emilia Romagna acquisitions offer strong downside protection, are fully aligned to our defensive investment philosophy and support our aim to deliver long-term outperformance with low volatility through cashflow diversification.”

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