Cordea Savills has exchanged contracts on an Italian property portfolio with a purchase price of €320 million. The portfolio, which comprises 20 residential and commercial assets in and around Milan, is being acquired on behalf of Cordea Savills' Italian Opportunities No.1 investment vehicle and private clients of Cordea Savills. The proposed portfolio is broken down as follows: 52% residential, 25% office, 15% retail and bank agency and 8% other.
The purchase represents a joint venture arrangement between Cordea Savills, Operae SPA and Sviluppi Immobiliari (a subsidiary of the vendor, Beni Stabili) to acquire part of the former Comit Fund portfolio. The arrangement grants Sviluppi Immobiliari a put option on its holding which may be exercised a year from the completion, whilst Cordea Savills and Operae have been granted a reciprocal call option. The exchange of contracts comes ahead of the next closing for Cordea Savills' Italian Opportunities No.1 venture, which is scheduled for December 15th. Italian Opportunities No.1 is open to investment from both institutions and sophisticated private investors.
Dominic White, Head of Cordea Savills' European Portfolio Management, commented: "This purchase highlights both our ability to execute major transactions in Europe and our expertise in the Italian property market. We are delighted to be buying into a portfolio which will allow us to create value through a number of strategies, ranging from trading activity, such as fractionalisation, breaking-up and selling some assets, to the repositioning of properties through asset management, such as lease re-gearing, active management and redevelopment."
Although Italy is one of the largest European economies, Cordea Savills believes that with the prevalence of off-market transactions, high levels of owner-occupation and little active management of the many properties in the market, there is considerable potential to generate strong returns. Italian Opportunities No.1 focuses on repackaging portfolios for immediate trading, repositioning single assets and portfolios for sale to the growing investor market.
Source: Cordea Savills
