Italian fund manager Fimit has completed the acquisition of 284 properties from bank Intesa Sanpaolo for a total of EUR 850 mln. The assets, which offer over 420,000 m[sup]2[/sup] of commercial space, were transferred before the New Year to Fimit's Omega real estate fund. Fimit said it is retaining around 30% of the fund's units, with 70% being held by several institutional investors including Intesa Sanpaolo, Fondiaria Sai as well as pension funds Inarcassa and Enasarco.
Italian fund manager Fimit has completed the acquisition of 284 properties from bank Intesa Sanpaolo for a total of EUR 850 mln. The assets, which offer over 420,000 m2 of commercial space, were transferred before the New Year to Fimit's Omega real estate fund. Fimit said it is retaining around 30% of the fund's units, with 70% being held by several institutional investors including Intesa Sanpaolo, Fondiaria Sai as well as pension funds Inarcassa and Enasarco.
The portfolio includes historic buildings such as Palazzo Biandra in Milan, Palazzo Deffenu in Cagliari, Intesa Sanpaolo headquarters in Rome and IMI headquarters in the Eur district of Rome. Fimit said that the transaction is the largest property deal completed in Italy this year.
In early 2008 Intesa Sanpaolo transferred the properties to its real estate arm Immit, saying it planned to spin off the portfolio in an Initial Public Offering worth up to EUR 1.05 bn. But as a result of slack investor demand the company was forced in June to suspend the IPO. In early August Fimit signed a letter of intent for the real estate assets of Intesa Sanpaolo, and launched a binding offer for the properties at the end of August.
