Rome-based asset manager Beni Stabili Gestioni Sgr has launched the disposal of a value-add portfolio of five office and logistics properties for a 30% discount to the assets’ acquisition price before the financial crisis, PropertyEU has learned.
Rome-based asset manager Beni Stabili Gestioni Sgr has launched the disposal of a value-add portfolio of five office and logistics properties for a 30% discount to the assets’ acquisition price before the financial crisis, PropertyEU has learned.
Beni Stabili Gestioni Sgr is understood to have hired advisory firm CBRE to sell the properties, which are owned by the group’s Italian Real Estate Fund (IREF), a closed-end fund for institutional investors launched in 2004. The vehicle is actively looking to sell as it approaches its maturity date of year-end 2015.
According to well-informed market sources, the sale - dubbed Project Klimt - involves three office buildings in Milan and two logistics properties in Chiesuol del Fosso near Ferrara and Rutigliano near Bari. The portfolio is being marketed for €150 mln, a 30% discount to its acquisition price of over €200 mln back in 2004.
According to those who track the market, the assets are expected to raise interest among foreign opportunistic investors active in Italy including Blackstone, Cerberus, Apollo, and Morgan Stanley.
Launched in 2004, IREF raised total equity commitments of €235 mln from a number of institutions including Dutch pension fund ABP, the government of Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC as well as US pension fund Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association and insurer Generali. The vehicle, initially due to mature at end-2012 before receiving a three-year extension to end-2015, launched the first divestment phase in 2010 when it disposed of some €200 mln of assets, or 48% of its portfolio value.
A number of closed-end funds approaching maturity are looking to liquidate assets now that capital is gradually coming back to the long moribund Italian property market. IdeaFimit’s Atlantic 2-Berenice fund is also believed to be selling a sub-portfolio of nine assets, largely office buildings located in Milan, Rome and Northern Italy.
The package is expected to fetch over €130 mln, according to those who track the market.
Earlier this year, Rome-based IdeaFimit turned down an offer from US private equity group Blackstone for its Atlantic 1 closed-end fund, currently in liquidation. Blackstone had presented a bid of €335 per fund unit, valuing the entire fund at around €175 mln. This represents a discount of roughly 35% to the fund’s net asset value per unit of €505, or €263 mln in total.