US private equity group Bain Capital is understood to have signed the acquisition of a portfolio of eight value-add properties in Northern Italy from French listed giant Covivio.
Bain is paying between €140 mln and €150 mln for the assets which include six secondary office properties offering 56,000 m2 in Milan (5) and Rozzano (1) and two shopping centres, the Ducale in Vigevano and the Costaverde in Montenero di Bisaccia. The office properties were acquired for €108 mln or a net yield of 3.3% while the retail assets have a limited lease duration and were acquired for around €40 mln, or a 9% yield.
The acquisition, which was made on 30 December through funds managed by local asset manager Kryalos Sgr, is the third by Bain Capital in Italy over the past two months, bringing the US group's total investment volume in Italy to around €450 mln.
The disposal is part of Covivio's strategy to exit non-strategic assets while focusing on Milan.
Bain Capital was advised by Mediobanca and Vitale. Covivio was advised by GVA Redilco.
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.
In November, Bain signed the acquisition of €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.
The package comprises more than 200 buildings, including two trophy assets – BPVI’s offices on Milan’s central Via Turati and on Rome’s Via del Tritone.
Then in December, Bain paid just over €94 mln for five office properties, which are only partly occupied and will require significant capex investment to be brought up to standard.
The value-add transaction was signed with the Amundi RE Europa and Italia funds and reflected 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.
