Cerberus to buy Unicredit’s Levia package at 50% discount

US private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management is in the process of acquiring the Levia portfolio of Italian real estate assets from lender Unicredit at a discount of nearly 50%, PropertyEU has learned.

According to well-informed market sources the portfolio, dubbed Levia, comprises assets foreclosed upon and taken back by Italy’s largest banking group in late 2014. The package is believed to have a total market value of some €600 mln, with Cerberus offering to pay half the amount.

The properties are largely for industrial use and mostly concentrated in the north of the country.

The deal marks Cerberus' second acquisition from Unicredit following the purchase in December 2013 of a €1 bn non-secured portfolio of distressed consumer and personal loans.

Unicredit is one of only a few Italian banks actively working on the sale of real estate and property loans. The banking giant is currently in final discussions to sell its non-performing loan platform, Unicredit Credit Management Bank (UCCMB), as well as a bad loan portfolio worth around €3.5 bn to another US player, Fortress.

Cerberus pushes ahead
The US asset manager has been increasingly active in Italy following its entry in the market last summer. Cerberus made its first foray in July last year with the purchase of a portfolio of seven office buildings and barracks held by the Patrimonio Uno closed-end fund managed by BNP Paribas REIM.

It bought the assets - located in Senigallia, Pescara, Padoa, Mestre, Florence, Vicenza and Genoa - for some €90 mln on behalf of the C1 Investment Fund managed by Cordea Savills Sgr, as tipped by PropertyEU at the time.

In total, the properties provide some 85,000 m2 and are let entirely to the police and customs agency on long-term rental agreements.

Army barracks
More recently, PropertyEU reported that the US investor is in final negotiations with Fondi Immobili Pubblici (FIP), a state-owned fund managed by Investire Immobiliare Sgr, to buy a sub-portfolio consisting of three army barracks in Bari, Rome and Bergamo as well as a number of other smaller assets across Italy.

The US investor has been granted exclusivity on this package which is expected to fetch around €250 mln.

Launched in 2004, FIP was the first real estate fund to be created by the Italian government as part of a major privatisation effort and owns around 400 buildings across the country. The assets for sale are home to public administration offices including public pension funds INAIL, INPS, the ministry of transport, the internal revenue service, the customs agency, the police, the ministry of labour and the territorial agency.

All the properties are leased on a master lease agreement to the Agenzia del Demonio, the country's public real estate agency, with a contract running to December 2022.