Idea Fimit launches binding offer for Milan's Santa Giulia

Italian fund manager Idea Fimit Sgr has mounted a binding offer for the flagship Santa Giulia mixed-use development project in Milan owned by cash-strapped developer Risanamento.

Financial details were not disclosed but according to the Italian press the offer amounts to some €60 mln in cash, which with debt should allow the new investor to put the project back on track.

Unicredit and Intesa Sanpaolo are the main lenders on the development.

In a statement, Risanamento said the purchase would be carried out through the transfer of the asset to a newly created property fund.

'The board has mandated chief executive officer Claudio Calabi to further analyse the terms and conditions of the bid, with the help of its financial and legal advisors and within the terms of the offer itself, which expires on June 30,' Risanamento said.

Risanamento and Idea Fimit have been in exclusive discussions for months on the Norman Foster-designed mixed-use project in Milan, which comprises almost 1 million m2, mostly for residential, office and retail use.

Milan-based Risanamento has been trying to sell the development site for several years, but talks with a previous investor consortium fell through in late 2011. The company received a non-binding expression of interest from Idea Fimit in late 2012.