Beni Stabili has won the auction for the Comit Funds property portfolio. The auction, which began in December 2005 with 70 expressions of interest, took place in two phases:
- the submission of non-binding offers from around 30 groups on 6 February;
- the submission of binding offers from the 8 bidders still in the race on 12 April.
The property portfolio consists of: 24 entire buildings and 27 portions of properties for commercial use (around 252,000 m² and about 82% of the whole portfolio), 5 entire buildings and 15 portions for residential use (approximately 57,000 m² and around 18% of the whole portfolio).
Around 92% of the portfolio is located in Lombardy, with 74% of these properties in the centre of Milan. The Beni Stabili Group will finance the purchase primarily via a 725m loan put up by San Paolo Imi as Lead Arranger and Banca Antonveneta as Joint Arranger, with the remaining funds provided by liquidity and lines of credit available to the Group. The deal is expected to be signed at the end of April, with closing due in June.
We are extremely pleased, commented the Companys joint Managing Directors, Massimo de Meo and Aldo Mazzocco, that our efforts over the last four months have enabled us to win a portfolio providing a perfect match with the other property portfolios currently owned by the Group. This is one of the best opportunities offered by the Italian property market in the last six years. After five years of continuous growth, our Group can look forward to the future with confidence, having strengthened our portfolio and established the basis for further value creation.
Source: Beni Stabili
