GE Real Estate has increased its exposure to the Italian property market with the acquisition of 70% of the closed-end commercial real estate fund Redwood. GE RE will join Valore Reale as co-asset management advisor. Valore Reale has 16 funds with total assets of EUR 900 mln under management.

GE Real Estate has increased its exposure to the Italian property market with the acquisition of 70% of the closed-end commercial real estate fund Redwood. GE RE will join Valore Reale as co-asset management advisor. Valore Reale has 16 funds with total assets of EUR 900 mln under management.

Redwood's portfolio comprises 22 retail properties worth about EUR 130 mln, most of which are let to Grupo Dixon's Unieuro. This acquisition follows GE RE's purchase in 2006 of the Belvedere Auchan di Mellili shopping centre in Syracuse and the Primavera shopping centre in Rome. Lehman Brothers has also invested in the new fund, according to the news agency Radiocor.

Olivier Teran, head of business development of GE RE Europe and managing director of GE RE Italy, said: 'These two acquisitions underline our growth strategy in the country. The retail sector is a key part of our expansion strategy in the country, as it offers excellent growth opportunities in a fragmented market such as the Italian one. We are already looking for other opportunities in this sector.'

Additionally, GE Real Estate, through its Petrarca fund, has bought the Centro Gorki office complex from Deutsche Bank's Rreef Fondi Immobiliari for EUR 43 mln. The office covers some 35,000 m2 of space at Cinisello Balsamo, north of Milan, and is leased out to the joint venture Siemens-Nokia. The Gorki building is the first acquisition of Petrarca, which is managed by Italy's Aedes. The Petrarca fund has a EUR 250 mln initial portfolio including 10 real estate assets across major Italian cities.