US private equity group Bain Capital has closed the acquisition of a portfolio of five office properties in Italy initially agreed in late 2019.
Bain paid just over €94 mln for the assets, which are only partly occupied and will require significant capex investment to be brought up to standard. Closing of the deal was initially planned for February 29, but was postponed following the onset of the health crisis in Italy.
The value-add transaction – which was tipped by PropertyEU in November last year - reflects an average 26% discount to the properties’ latest market value per end June 2019. The properties include Henkel Group's 17,500 m2 head office in Milan’s Via Amoretti as well as the headquarters of mobile phone giant H3G Wind in Rome, a multi-let office at Milan’s Viale Monza 338, the head of office of Sony in Italy in Cinisello Balsamo and another office in Casalecchio di Reno near Bologna.
The properties are largely held by the Amundi RE Europa fund in liquidation, while three assets are held jointly with the Amundi RE Italia fund.
French investment giant Amundi appointed Lazard late in 2018 to sell all the assets owned by its Amundi RE Europa and Amundi RE Italia funds which come to maturity at the end of 2021. The vehicles were expected to complete the disposals at well below acquisition cost largely as a result of the high vacancy rate - 30% across the two funds - as well as the assets’ secondary locations. Vitale advised the buyer.
The largest property in the portfolio is the H3G Wind head office in Rome’s Via Alessandro Severo, last valued at €44 mln. The 14,200 m2 fully-let complex in Rome was bought in 2011 for just over €52 mln by Amundi RE Europa and generates annual rents close to €4 mln. It was sold for just over €30 mln.
Bain has grown aggressively in Italy in recent years, swooping in particular on a number of toxic portfolios. The US giant entered the country's non-performing loans market in 2017 with the acquisition of Heta Asset Resolution Italia (Harit), the bad bank of Hypo Alpe-Adria Bank, including assets worth €570 mln.
Last year, Bain signed the acquisition of nearly €500 mln of assets in Italy. It bought €200 mln of property assets from Italian lender Banca Popolare di Vicenza (BPVI) in administration. The deal – Bain’s first direct property transaction in Italy - took the form of a share transaction involving Immobiliare Stampa, the property arm of BPVI, which was put into administration in June 2017.
It also acquired a portfolio of eight value-add properties in Northern Italy from French listed giant Covivio for between €140 mln and €150 mln.
