Italian asset manager IdeaFimit has hired CBRE to market Unicredit’s historic headquarters at Piazza Cordusio 2 in central Milan for an asking price of around €400 mln, PropertyEU has learned.
Italian asset manager IdeaFimit has hired CBRE to market Unicredit’s historic headquarters at Piazza Cordusio 2 in central Milan for an asking price of around €400 mln, PropertyEU has learned.
The scheme, known as Palazzo Broggi, dates back to the early 1900s and provides around 50,000 m2 of office space. It is fully let to Unicredit on a 12-year lease but only 30% of the space is actually used by the bank.
The landmark office complex is owned by IdeaFimit’s Fondo Omicron Plus, which bought it in 2009 as part of a larger acquisition of €800 mln of assets from lender Unicredit.
According to those who track the market, the core to core-plus complex is expected to draw interest from a wide range of international investors including sovereign wealth funds as well as Asian, Middle East and US players.
SWFs such as Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Qatar Holding, US players such as Hines, Blackstone and Tishman Speyer, and also international groups of the likes of the Saudi Olayan Group and China’s Fosun are expected to look at the asset.
In addition, international retailers including Printemps, Galerie Lafayette and Harrods will likely evaluate the possibility of buying the scheme and using the vacant space to create a major department store a few steps from Milan’s Piazza Duomo.
‘We are currently in a market phase characterised by strong interest from international investors in Italy,’ commented Paolo Bellacosa, managing director Capital Markets at CBRE Italy. ‘Palazzo Broggi is an interesting target for sovereign wealth funds and opportunistic players as well as for international retailers looking for a unique location in Milan.'