Poste Vita gives CBRE GI, Deutsche AM mandates to invest in Europe

Poste Vita has given CBRE Global Investors and Deutsche Asset Management mandates to invest in European property, IPE Real Estate understands.

The Italian insurance company has selected the managers to invest in alternative real estate and retail assets, respectively, in euro-zone countries.

CBRE Global Investors will source assets across sectors including logistics and residential, while Deutsche Asset Management will source retail investments in continental Europe.

Another separate account dedicated to the UK property market could also be awarded by Poste Vita later this year, suggesting that political uncertainty surrounding Brexit has not dissuaded the investor from allocating to the market.

Poste Vita, CBRE Global Investors and Deutsche Asset Management did not comment.

Poste Vita has been looking to invest in real estate via an indirect, tailored fund-based strategy since early last year.

Both mandates are understood to be up to the size of that given to UBS Asset Management, which recently won Poste Vita’s first mandate to manage a pan-European office real estate account.

Poste Vita committed an initial €300m – which could be extended to €500m – to invest in core euro-zone office markets with UBS Asset Management.

The Swiss manager saw off competition from as many as 150 managers, Poste Vita’s head of real estate, Marco Plazzotta said in July.

The UBS-Diamond Eurozone Offices fund (UBS-DEO) is focusing on prime locations within the top 10 to 15 cities in the euro-zone, with assets ranging in size from €50m to €100m.

As reported in October last year, Poste Vita was close to awarding a mandate to invest in European real estate for the first time.

A low interest-rate environment, Plazzotta said, meant that Poste Vita was diversifying its portfolio to include international real estate.

Poste Vita could allocate as much as 3% to the asset class, IPE Real Estate reported in February 2015.