Italian real estate company Sansedoni is teaming up with US bank Lehman Brothers to acquire a portfolio owned by the real estate unit of Siena-based bank Monte Paschi di Siena (MPS). A 50/50 joint venture of Sansedoni and Lehman Brothers is buying 100% of Valorizzazioni Immobiliari (VIM), a fully-owned unit of MPS. VIM holds 188 real estate assets which are no longer seen as an essential part of MPS' banking business. The closing of the transaction is expected by June 2008. VIM has a market value of about EUR 100mln, Sansedoni said on Monday.
Italian real estate company Sansedoni is teaming up with US bank Lehman Brothers to acquire a portfolio owned by the real estate unit of Siena-based bank Monte Paschi di Siena (MPS). A 50/50 joint venture of Sansedoni and Lehman Brothers is buying 100% of Valorizzazioni Immobiliari (VIM), a fully-owned unit of MPS. VIM holds 188 real estate assets which are no longer seen as an essential part of MPS' banking business. The closing of the transaction is expected by June 2008. VIM has a market value of about EUR 100mln, Sansedoni said on Monday.
The joint venture will seek to add value to the portfolio via active management before breaking it into parcels which will be put it on the market again in the short-medium term. In December 2007, MPS said it was selling off the assets as part of its strategy to dispose of non-strategic real estate properties. The public bidding process was launched in January.
VIM was created at the end of 2005 from the spin-off of the non strategic assets of MPS. Reag is advising the seller.
