Italian institutional investors - who traditionally trail their Western European peers when it comes to real estate investment - are going all out in the Italian market in 2011, according to transaction data compiled by PropertyEU. With little apparent regard for the problems facing the Italian economy, local institutional players have helped push the real estate investment volume by Italian buyers in deals of EUR 20 mln-plus to EUR 1.2 bn during the first quarter of 2011.
According to the Q1 Deal Analysis published in the May edition of PropertyEU Magazine, this puts Italy in fourth place among the top buyers in Q1. The UK comes tops in terms of buyer by country with a volume of EUR 4.4 bn, followed by Germany on EUR 2.8 bn, with France in third place on EUR 1.7 bn.
One of the largest Italian deals of the period was the sale by Italian fund manager Prelios of the historic Rinascente department store building in Milan's Piazzo Duomo for EUR 472 mln.
The buyer was Ippocrate, an investment fund majority owned by the privatised pension fund for Italian doctors and dentists (Enpam).
The fund is managed by Italian fund manager First Atlantic Real Estate. First Atlanic, which is finalising its merger with Fimit, another Italian fund manager, is also said to be in negotiations to acquire the other Rinascente in Rome for EUR 260-270 mln.
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