French listed property group Klépierre is looking for a buyer for a portfolio of four shopping centres in Northern Italy, PropertyEU has learned.
The Paris-based group has hired Morgan Stanley to market assets, which are owned through the so-called K2 closed-end property fund. The vehicle was set up in 2008 and is managed by BNP Paribas Real Estate Investment Management Sgr.
The portfolio includes all secondary malls and in particular, the 27,400 m2 80-units Metropoli in Novate Milanese, built in 1999, the 36,000 m2 56-units Acquario Center in Vignate, the 11,100 m2 Settimo in Settimo Milanese with 31 units, and Le Rondinelle in Roncadelle, near Brescia, built in 1996.
According to well-informed market sources, Klépierre tried to market the assets among core investors but has now been forced to lower the asking price and target more opportunistic players as the initial offer fell short of expectations.
Also in Italy, Portuguese shopping centre specialist Sonae Sierra is believed to have lowered the asking price on a shopping mall in Brescia from the initial €130-140 mln price bracket to just €110-120 mln after receiving initial offers on the asset, which is being marketed through agent Jones Lang LaSalle.
Known as Freccia Rossa, the 29,500 m2 mall provides 112 stores and 2,500 parking spaces and is being sold by a joint venture of Sonae Sierra (50%) and its partners AIG (40%) and Coimprendil (10%).
While yields across Europe and in Italy have reached historic lows, it is getting increasingly difficult for vendors to secure deals at current market values and a number of assets have been pulled out of the market.
Last week, PropertyEU reported that Italian insurance giant Generali put the sale of a €1 bn European portfolio of real estate assets known as Stardust on hold after receiving preliminary offers deemed to be too low.
Generali first announced in March that it had hired investment bank Morgan Stanley to market the portfolio, one of the largest packages to be put up for sale this year.
Four parties including Germany's Patrizia, CBRE Global Investors and UBS were believed to have submitted preliminary non-binding offers for the portfolio back in March. However, sources say that the initial bids were so low that the vendor has decided not to go through with the sale.
The portfolio included 69 buildings in Germany, France, Austria and Italy, providing a total space of 300,000 m2 and generating some €50 mln in rents a year.
