Private equity firm Orion Capital Managers has completed the acquisition of a major development site near Milan’s Bisceglie metro station.
Orion has made the purchase on behalf of its European Fund V through the newly-launched Park West investment vehicle managed by DeA Capital Real Estate, which will focus on the acquisition of on office developments in Italy.
Under the transaction, which was first agreed in early 2019, Orion will invest a total of around €100 mln to buy the site and develop an office complex consisting of three buildings providing a total lettable area of 27,600 m2.
The project is aiming for a Leed Gold rating. It represents the office element of the larger SeiMilano development site encompassing 300,000 m2 to the south-west of Milan.
The larger area is being redeveloped by US private equity firm Värde Partners and Italian joint venture partner Borio Mangiarotti into a mixed-use project, representing a total investment of over €250 mln.
In total, the masterplan signed by architect Mario Cucinella entails the development of 100,000 m2 of housing, 30,000 m2 of offices and 10,000 m2 of ancillary retail facilities within a new urban park of over 16 hectares, the second largest in the Milan area.
Värde Partners has a 90% share in the joint company while Borio Mangiarotti, the original owner of the site, has a 10% share. The owners were supported by Vitale as financial advisor.
The acquisition is the latest deal by Orion in Milan and particularly in the Bisceglie area. In early 2019 Orion bought the Milano 4 development project from the real estate arm of the Berlusconi family’s Fininvest investment unit.
Orion paid €20 mln to buy the 70,000 m2 site in Bisceglie to the south-west of the city and planned to develop 700 apartments for a total cost of €200-€250 mln.
