Barings Real Estate Advisers has acquired the Nuovo Borgo retail centre in Asti, Italy, for €51.5 mln from Warburg-HIH.
The deal follows the investor's debut acquisition in Italy in December, when it purchased a €44 mln office property in Milan.
'Nuovo Borgo is a strongly positioned asset and our first retail acquisition in Italy. There is limited competition in the region, meaning the asset is a well established market leader in multi-tenanted retail in Northern Italy and is also well let to a strong mix of tenants,' commented Gunther Deutsch, European head of transactions at Barings Real Estate Advisers. 'The investment provides us with an attractive yield and the opportunity to drive further value through a targeted asset management programme.'
Situated in the Piedmont region, Nuovo Borgo comprises 16,976 m2 of modern retail accomodation anchored by Mediaworld, Calzedonia, OVS, Cisalfa, Piazza Italia and jewellery store, Pandora.
Barings Real Estate Advisers’ Milan-based team will oversee the asset management of the centre. Barings said that the purchase was made as part of a pan-European core investment strategy, and was disposed by Warburg-HIH on behalf of one of its pan-European core investment funds focusing on office and retail assets.
'The performance of retail assets in Northern Italy remains strong and in our view the asset is well positioned to take advantage of this environment owing to its strong line up of tenants and location between Milan, Turin and Genoa. We are already in the advanced stages of re-letting a small number of vacant units and look forward to working on other asset management initiatives in the future,' concluded Valeria Falcone, head of Italy at Barings Real Estate Advisers.
