Italian asset managers evaluate merger

Italian asset managers Investire Immobiliare SGR, Beni Stabili Gestioni SGR and Polaris Real Estate SGR are evaluating the integration of their businesses to create a €7 bn fund management company.

The three asset managers have signed a letter of intent with a view to creating a new combine which will position itself 'as a market leader' in Italy.

The companies pointed to the development of operational and financial synergies, international expansion as well as the creation of critical mass as strategic drivers of the operation.

Under the agreement, the new combine is expected to be controlled by Investire's main shareholder Banca Finnat with Italian REIT Beni Stabili holding a 17.9% stake, while the Benettons - one of Italy's richest families and founder of the Benetton retail chain - have a 11.6% interest. Minority shareholders will include Fondazione Cariplo (8.6%), Cassa Italiana di Previdenza e Assistenza dei Geometri al (7.7%), ICCREA Holding (2.4%) and Fondazione Cassa dei Risparmi di Forlì (1.5%).

The announcement comes just a few months after Beni Stabili dissolved its joint fund management platform with Germany's IVG Immobilien. The Italian company decided to pull out of the operation after the German partner incurred heavy losses and launched a strategic review of the business as part of plans to refinance its debt burden.

Beni Stabili announced at end-November 2012 that it was joining forces with IVG to launch a joint fund management platform to promote and manage fund products for Italian institutional investors. Under the agreement signed at the time, Rome-based Beni Stabili Gestioni SGR, the fund management arm of Beni Stabili Group, was to acquire a 5% stake in IVG SGR. Initial plans were to gradually increase the shareholding to 49%.

Beni Stabili Gestioni manages 13 investment funds with a total asset value of more than €1.5 bn.

The Benetton family and Banca Finnat Euroamerica Group have a controlling stake in Beni Stabili Property Service (BSPS), which specialises in property management and valuation as well as offering property advisory services.

Banca Finnat is also the Rome-based parent group of fund manager Investire Immobiliare Sgr, while Benetton's Regia bought a 20% equity interest in Investire in 2008. Investire manages over €4.5 bn of assets.