A 50/50 joint venture of Italy's Sansedoni and investor Lehman Brothers has completed the acquisition of 100% of bank MPS's Valorizzazioni Immobiliari (Vim). Vim owns a portfolio of 188 commercial units that were no longer central to Monte Paschi di Siena's business. The assets have a market value of around EUR 100mln.

A 50/50 joint venture of Italy's Sansedoni and investor Lehman Brothers has completed the acquisition of 100% of bank MPS's Valorizzazioni Immobiliari (Vim). Vim owns a portfolio of 188 commercial units that were no longer central to Monte Paschi di Siena's business. The assets have a market value of around EUR 100mln.

'This partnership was created with the objective to optimise the value of the portfolio and subsequently proceed in the medium-long term with the separate sales of the assets,' the two business partners said in a joint statement released on Friday. Sansedoni is a property management company which is 48%-controlled by Fondazione Monte Paschi di Siena, 28% by the Roman construction tycoon Silvano Toti, 16% by MPS itself and 8% by Gruppo Unieco.

The joint venture was created in May this year after MPS announced in January it was putting the assets on the market.