BNP Paribas REIM's Portfolio Immobiliare Crescita fund in liquidation has completed the sale of all its remaining properties in Italy during the Expo Italia Real Estate (EIRE) property fair held this week in Milan.
BNP Paribas REIM's Portfolio Immobiliare Crescita fund in liquidation has completed the sale of all its remaining properties in Italy during the Expo Italia Real Estate (EIRE) property fair held this week in Milan.
On Wednesday, the fund reportedly sold an office building to an institutional fund managed by an investment vehicle of Henderson Global Investors. Sources close to the deal told PropertyEU the sales price is slightly less than EUR 30 mln.
The property is the only asset in the portfolio which has been sold to a foreign investor. All the other properties were sold to Italian investors at an average discount of some 20%, sources say. At the beginning of this year, the fund's portfolio was valued at EUR 260 mln. The fund has yet to reach definitive agreement on the sale on three retail galleries and an office building, but preliminary agreements for these deals have already been signed.
In April, the fund clinched its first sale with the disposal of an office building near Milan to the Mediolanum Real Estate fund for around EUR 23 mln. A month later it sold another five properties for an undisclosed amount.
BNP Paribas's Italian unit BNL Fondi Immobiliare announced at end-January that it had requested a three-year extension on the liquidation of the closed-ended fund. The group retained advisers AEW Italia, Jones Lang LaSalle and AtisReal to carry out the disposal programme.
Launched in 2001, the property investment vehicle was initially due to close by the end of this year, but as a result of the credit crunch and the difficult market conditions, the company said it was unable to complete the disposal of the properties held by the fund on advantageous terms.
