Hines Sgr has announced the sale of an office building located at Foro Buonaparte 16 in Milan to an unnamed buyer for around EUR 55 mln. The acquisition was made on behalf of Hines' Monte Paschi Hines Real Estate Crescita fund for a price 30% higher than the acquisition investment volume back in May 2009.

Completed in the early 1900s, the historic property previously housed the Italian headquarters of Citigroup and currently offers around 10,000 m2 of office space across nine floors. It was acquired by the fund in May 2009.

Hines took over the management of MHREC earlier this year when it merged with the real estate fund management arm of Prima Sgr. The operation was part of the company's plans to boost assets under management to over EUR 3 bn in the country by the end of the year.

Prima Sgr, which was created in 2009 as a partnership between private equity firm Clessidra and bank Monte Paschi di Siena, transferred the management of some EUR 400 mln in real estate assets to Hines.