UBS Asset Management Italy has been awarded a pan-European real estate investment mandate by Poste Vita to invest in core Eurozone offices.
The mandate has an initial equity commitment of €300 mln, which could be extended up to €500 mln.
Poste Vita, a Poste Italiane Group company, selected UBS’s Global Real Estate business to manage and expand its real estate investments in the European office markets. The investment is structured as an Italian Real Estate Alternative Investment Fund (RE FIA) called the UBS-Diamond Eurozone Offices fund (UBS-DEO).
UBS-DEO will target core and core plus investment opportunities with a focus on new or recently developed office assets with high occupancy. Other criteria include long-term leases and prime locations within the top 10-15 cities in the eurozone. It will mainly target direct investments ranging in size from €50-100 mln, with a target leverage of under 30% LTV.
Marco Plazzotta, head of real estate at Poste Vita, commented: ‘Due to the low interest rate environment the company is diversifying its portfolio to include international real estate investments. This additional fund with UBS-DEO is part of the real estate investment activity started some years ago.’
'We were early movers in Italy, establishing a dedicated platform with a strong commitment to the market, said Marco Doglio, head of UBS Global Real Estate Italy. He added: ‘In order to best meet the requirements of the mandate, Florian Kutz, former head of the Nordic region for GRE, will relocate from Frankfurt to Milan as UBS-DEO’s fund manager to strengthen the Italian team’s investment and asset management capabilities as it commences delivery of its strategy for Poste Vita.’
Deloitte Financial Advisory and DLA Piper advised Poste Vita on the selection process, while PwC operated as tax advisor to UBS.
