Italy's asset manager Idea Real Estate said this week it has applied for a listing of its shares on Milan's MTA junior stock exchange in a move which would help fund a major acquisition signed last month.
Italy's asset manager Idea Real Estate said this week it has applied for a listing of its shares on Milan's MTA junior stock exchange in a move which would help fund a major acquisition signed last month.
The news comes just a few days after another Italian firm, Coima sgr (previously Hines Italia sgr) announced it had won backing from the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) to spin off its income-generating assets and convert the unit to real estate investment trust status (REIT or SIIQ in Italian).
Idea Real Estate is believed to be looking to raise €500 mln from the Initial Public Offering, according to local newspaper Milano Finanza.
The company said the placing will target exclusively Italian and international institutional investors. Majority shareholder, publishing Group DeAgostini's private equity unit Dea Capital will hold a minority stake in the company following the placement.
Unicredit is the sponsor of the operation. Deutsche Bank, UniCredit Corporate & Investment Banking are acting as global coordinators and joint bookrunners, while UBS is acting as Joint Bookrunner.
Idea Real Estate, which currently owns €268 mln of assets, was set up at the end of 2014 by private equity firm Dea Capital to benefit from changes to the Italian REIT legislation. In August the firm signed an agreement to acquire a €422 mln portfolio from the Omicron Plus closed-end fund, managed by IdeaFimit.
The purchase involves assets largely let to bank Unicredit and is conditional on the listing of Idea Real Estate.
