Pan-European real estate manager Triuva has sourced a portfolio of nine Italian high street retail properties for €120 mln on behalf of a client of CBRE Global Investment Partners (CBRE GIP).
The deal was secured for a Dutch institutional client of CBRE GIP. Triuva structured the purchase from one of the vehicles of Milan-listed Beni Stabili through a new fund established and managed by Savills Investment Management Italy. Triuva will act as exclusive advisor as well as asset manager to the fund.
Commenting on the transaction in an interview with PropertyEU, Triuva's CEO Wenzel Hoberg said it marked a strategic shift for the company and a key step towards expanding its investor base outside its home country Germany.
'After having focused our investor relations activities more towards non-German clients starting 2016, this first transaction for CBRE GIP can be seen as an official stamp of approval by a highly respected investment manager,' he said.
The structure of the deal deviates from Triuva's traditional investments and has the characteristics of a fund of fund transaction, Hoberg added. Savills Investment Management won the mandate following a beauty contest and the deal was structured via its Italian company for tax reasons.
Outside Rome and Milan
The deal is also unusual because of the location of the high street properties outside the regular Italian destinations of Milan and Rome. The portfolio comprises assets in the historic city centres of Bologna, Padua, Vicenza, Cuneo, Pisa, Novara, La Spezia and Treviso. Several properties in these Northern Italian cities date back to the 19th century, of which three are listed by the Italian Cultural Heritage office. All nine properties have been recently refurbished and are occupied by tenants which include high street fashion chains Zara and H&M, as well as luxury group LVMH.
'This exceptional portfolio of prime assets generates a secure and stable cash flow through long-term leases, which is very attractive to investors. Regional Italian cities have performed well supported by higher than average purchasing power. We expect to see some opportunities to add value to these properties through targeted asset management,' said Chris Linney, head of asset management at Triuva.
Triuva sourced the investor - believed to be pension capital investor PGGM - through its Dutch office and found the assets offmarket through its Italian network. This is the second time in the past 12 months that Triuva has struck in Italy and follows the purchase of the flagship Apple and Moncler store in Florence in 2016. In total, the company currently has €10 bn of assets under management and targets office, retail and logistics properties in the core segment.
Advising Triuva on the transaction were Savills, Arcadis, DLA Piper (Italy) and Linklaters (Germany).
