Beni Stabili buys €70m of distressed assets for 2 funds

Beni Stabili Gestioni sgr, the Rome-based asset manager recently merged with peer Investire, has acquired a total of 123 properties in two separate transactions on behalf of its Securis Real Estate funds.

In the largest of the two transactions, Beni Stabili Gestioni has taken over 78 industrial and logistics assets from Iccrea Banca Impresa on behalf of its newly launched Securis Real Estate III.

The deal, worth around €40 mln, is the first acquisition carried out by the property fund, which is looking to reposition the assets and put them back on the market on an asset-by-asset basis. The acquired properties are largely vacant, insolvent or legally disputed.

Separately, the asset manager has acquired a further 45 buildings from bank BPER's Sardaleasing for its Securis Real Estate closed-end fund for a volume of €30 mln. Launched in 2008, the vehicle has raised total equity of €176 mln and has a life term of 30 years.

It is the fifth sale by Sardaleasing to the Securis fund. In 2014, Sardaleasing divested 25 assets for €22 mln or a discount of 9% to market value.

'Banks' sale of distressed real estate to funds is an emerging trend in Italy and we managed three or four such operations last year for our client, Beni Stabili Gestioni Sgr,' commented Emiliano Russo, founding partner at Errelegal, which advised Beni Stabili on both transactions.

The €1.7 bn Beni Stabili Gestioni Platform has recently been incorporated in larger peer Investire Immobiliare after signing an agreement to merge the business and create a €7 bn fund management company, Italy's second-largest real estate asset manager by assets under management.

The new combine is controlled by Investire's main shareholder Banca Finnat with Italian REIT Beni Stabili and the Benettons - one of Italy's richest families and founder of the Benetton retail chain - have a minority interest. Other shareholders include Fondazione Cariplo (8.6%), Cassa Italiana di Previdenza e Assistenza dei Geometri al (7.7%), ICCREA Holding (2.4%) and Fondazione Cassa dei Risparmi di Forlì (1.5%).