Orion's new €1.3 bn real estate fund has acquired a large retail property in the Northern Italian city of Bologna.
Orion's new €1.3 bn real estate fund has acquired a large retail property in the Northern Italian city of Bologna.
Orion European Real Estate IV, managed by Orion Capital Managers, purchased the 35,400 m2 Meraville Retail Centre from European retail property asset manager Pradera.
The deal was first flagged by PropertyEU in August this year. Although Orion did not reveal the investment volume in its official announcement, well-informed sources suggested during the summer that the price would be in the region of €80 mln.
Confirmation of the transactions comes after Orion Fund IV completed its recent fundraising, leaving it fully subscribed at €1.3 bn of equity capital commitments.
Six kilometres from Bologna city centre, Meraville Retail Centre's tenants include Coop, Decathlon, Leroy Merlin and Mediaworld.
Van Stults, founding partner and managing director of Orion Capital Managers, said: 'We are pleased to acquire the successful Meraville retail property which performs well serving the Bologna region. This continues Orion’s active positive presence of over 14 years in the Italian market.'
Roberto Limetti, managing director and head of Pradera Italy, commented on the disposal of Meraville: 'It has been a highly successful asset for the Pradera European Retail Fund for the past ten years. During this period, we have experienced over 25% per cent sales rise across the park and under Pradera’s management, a number of significant lettings and value added projects were completed.'
Orion Capital Managers is a European real estate investment firm formed in 1999. The firm has created Orion European Real Estate Funds I, II, III and IV and the core fund, Orion Income Return Partners, which combined have €10 bn of investment capacity. The Orion funds target a wide range of real estate investments throughout Europe.
Pradera is a specialist retail sector fund and asset manager established in 1999 by Paul Whight and now headed by James Bury, Neil Varnham and Roberto Limetti. It operates through a variety of in-house discretionary funds, joint ventures and separate mandates. Pradera currently manages in excess of 50 retail parks and shopping centres throughout the UK & Europe totalling in excess of €2.2 bn of assets under management.
