Italian fund manager BNL Fondi Immobiliari has asked the Bank of Italy for a three-year extension on the disposal of the real estate portfolio held by its listed closed-end fund Portfolio Immobiliare Crescita. Launched in 2001, the property investment vehicle was initially due to close by the end of this year. The company said it requested an extension to complete the sell off of the fund's portfolio and the repayment to the fund's investors as a result of the credit crunch and the difficult market conditions. The fund had a portfolio of EUR 263 mln at end-June 2008.
Italian fund manager BNL Fondi Immobiliari has asked the Bank of Italy for a three-year extension on the disposal of the real estate portfolio held by its listed closed-end fund Portfolio Immobiliare Crescita. Launched in 2001, the property investment vehicle was initially due to close by the end of this year. The company said it requested an extension to complete the sell off of the fund's portfolio and the repayment to the fund's investors as a result of the credit crunch and the difficult market conditions. The fund had a portfolio of EUR 263 mln at end-June 2008.
'Our decision was a result of the current global crisis and in particular the worsening of the credit crunch since the month of September which has spread to every market [in Europe] and has determined a drastic reduction in the number of transactions in the European real estate markets, including the Italian one,' the company said in a statement.
The fund, which targets an annual return of 7.5%, invests in high-quality commercial real estate across Italy. BNL Fondi Immobiliari is a closed-end fund manager and part of the French BNP Paribas Group.
