Unicredit puts €250m Rome trophy package on the market

Unicredit is understood to be in the early stages of marketing a €250 mln portfolio of three trophy buildings in Rome with interested parties including the Qatar Investment Authority, Blackstone and a number of local pension funds.

According to well-informed market sources, Unicredit has recruited C&W to sell the package, dubbed 'Great Beauty'. It consists of three fully-let office buildings in the historic centre of Rome which will be marketed separately as well as a portfolio.

The bank is expecting non-binding bids for the 46,000 m2 portfolio by March.

The package includes a four-storey property built in 1588 and located near Farnese Square. It houses the offices of the State Council as well as the Monte di Pietà, a charitable institution created to provide financial assistance to the poor.

The asset would be sold in a sale-and-lease back transaction. Another building is Palazzo Verospi, at Via del Corso, also dating back to the early 1600s. It boasts frescos from Baroque painter Francesco Albani and was the home of English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. It currently houses a Unicredit bank branch.

The third building is the Galleria Sciarra Colonna di Carbognano, located between Via del Corso and the Trevi fountain. Built in the early 1800s in Liberty-style, it is home to the state’s National Anti-corruption Authorities.

The buildings provide a total rent roll of €12 mln a year and are leased with contracts of nine to 12 years.

Unicredit has recently been selling real estate to boost its financial ratios. In early February, the financial giant sold its non-performing loan platform as well as a €2.4 bn nominally-valued non-performing loan portfolio to US asset manager Fortress and its affiliates for a total of €530 mln.

It is also believed to be in negotiations with US private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management to divest the Levia portfolio for a discount of nearly 50%. The portfolio comprises assets foreclosed upon and taken back by Italy’s largest banking group in late 2014. The properties are largely destined for industrial use and mostly concentrated in the north of the country.