Brexit effect, the real estate sector is investing again in Milan

 

 

Since last year, when the threat of the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union became reality with the results of the Brexit referendum, Milan has been pushing for its place in the spotlight, granting in this way a return  of the investments leaving London, According to Alexei Dal Pastro,  General Director of the listed real estate company (Siiq) Beni Stabili, something is moving. “Have we been contacted after the Brexit? The answer is yes. This could be a positive incentive”. Beni Stabili is for its 52.2% controlled by Foncière des Régions, whose first shareholder is the Luxottica patron, Leonardo Del Vecchio.

The Siiq closed the first semester with a net result reaching 557 million euro (+8.4% compared to the same period of last year) and a net revenue from rentals of 85.6 million (+4.2%).  “We’re positive about 2017, and the title reacted well with a recovery of over 20% since the beginning of the year”, adds Dal Pastro. The attention of the group goes to Milan and the office segment, where “there’s a very positive trend, a completely different dynamic from the rest of the country”. The goal is “to complete the development of all our spaces we have to reinvest in offices in Milan”. The real estate company is building in the city a new business district, Symbiosis, between Ripamonti Street and Ortles Boulevard. An area of 120 thousand Sq m will accommodate a new business park, where Fastweb has already reserved a space.

Source: Il Giorno

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

Unicredit completes the Fino sale

 

 

UniCredit has announced the underwriting of the definitive agreement with Pimco and Fortress for the transfer of the NPLs portfolio named Fino for 17.7 billion euro. The agreement was preliminary signed last December.

This portfolio is part of the so called non-core credits, identified by the bank in 2013 as credits to clients considered not critical for the bank in terms of risk and profitability.

Under the conditions of this agreement, the vehicle societies can purchase these 17.7 billion NPLs according to the respective participations of Pimco and Fortress. The operation will end with the issuance of Abs securities, expected by the end of July.

The operation was included in the strategic plan for 2016-2019 presented last December and developed by the Ceo Jean-Pierre Mustier.

Source: Milano Finanza

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

 

Real Estate investments in Italy increases 110% in the second quarter for a record semester

 

 

 

 

Summary

  • Real estate investments in Italy have been growing in the second quarter of 2017 and they are almost the double compared to the same period of the last year
  • In the first semester of 2017, the investments were equal to 58 billion euro, 58% more compared to the first semester of 2016
  • The volume of investments in the last 12 months (11.5 billion euro) is 39% higher than that of the previous 12 months
  • Foreign capitals are still dominating the market, but domestic investments are growing (+19% compared to the first semester of 2016)
  • 74 billion euro were invested in Europe in the second quarter of 2017, 23.5 billion of which in the UK, the volume invested in the first half reaches the amount of 130 billion euro, increased by 13% compared to the first half of 2016

In the second quarter of 2017, almost 4 billion euro were invested in the Italian real estate market, bringing the midyear volume to 5.8 billion euro – 58% higher than the volume of the same period of the last year – registering in this way a record for real estate investments never recorded before in one semester. The interest for the industry confirms to be very high in the first part of the year, with a more dynamic activity and a growth both of the average value and of the number of transactions compared to 2016. This is what emerges from the figures by Cbre, leader in real estate consulting.

Foreign capital is still the protagonist with 80% of the total investments in the first semester of the year, for a value of 4.5 billion euro, growing by 67% compared to the first semester of 2016. Moreover, the share of domestic capital invested continues to grow: over one billion euro in the first six months of 2017.

For what concerns the segments, offices registered the biggest quota of investments with 2 billion euro in the first semester of 2017 (+30% compared to the first semester of 2016), followed by retail that reached 1.2 billion euro (+76% compared to the first semester of 2016). The investments for the alternative segments were equal to 992 million euro, almost the double compared to the first semester of 2016, thanks to an important operation concerning Telecom telephone control units. Logistics, that started positively the year, has continued to collect the interests of the investors with almost 800 euro of investments (+291% compared to the same period of 2016). Also, the hotel segment continues attracting more and more investments, with 770 million euro (+49% compared to the first semester of 2016).

Regarding the geographical areas, the activity has increased in Rome with 1 billion euro investments in the first half of 2017, reporting a growth of 30% compared to the same period of 2016. Milan has reached an amount of investments equal to 1.8 billion euro, 25% more compared to 2016, 48% of which concerning the office segment.

Milan and Rome remain therefore the most attractive destinations for the investments, representing 50% of the total investments in the first half of the year.

“This volume of investments confirms the situation registered at the end of 2016: a great interest for Italy, relatively still competitive if compared to other markets, both of foreign investors, representing the 80% of the total investments, and of domestic investors, also increased in number in this semester. The NPLs market has finally taken off, opening up to an increasing number of investors and causing, therefore, the prices to rise. Moreover, niche segments are finally gaining market. The interest for the hotel sector is growing thanks to the opportunity of conversion of properties and to new formats. Also, the logistic sector has been registering semester after semester a triple digits growth and it’s expected to grow even more in the next months”.

Source: http://notizie.cbre.it/cbre-investimenti-immobiliari-in-italia–110-nel-secondo-trimestre-volume-semestrale-record

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

Construction is still suffering according to Ance

 

 

The construction sector is currently in a stalemate and cannot benefit from the general recovery. “We are a counter trend compared to the general trend of the economy”, said yesterday the Ance President Giuliano Campana presenting the report on the current situation of the industry. While Banca d’Italia and Istat see a positive trend for 2017, the construction sector is forced to scale down this growth: from a growth of 0.8%, we go down to 0.2%. We need to wait for next year for a solid recovery when the regulations of the new budget should bring an increase of the investments by 1.5%. Campana suggests some regulations to the Government to support the sector, starting from the extension of the fiscal bonus. Besides, Ance is requesting to prefer the requalification operations, with legislative procedures to favour building replacement. A sore point is the public agencies’ expenditure which, according to Ance, haven’t been able to use to their advantage the opportunities offered by the relaxation of the Stability Pact. Moreover, the decrease of investments in new houses (-1.5%) will weigh on the industry, even if in a context of recovery of the residential market , growing for the third consecutive year in 2016, when the sales registered an increase of 18.4%, while in the first quarter of 2017 they increased by 8.6%. Also, the investments in public works are growing, even by little, as well those in requalification projects, increasing by 0.5%.

Source: Milano Finanza

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

Assilea talks about leasing Npls in Milan

 

 

 

Non Performing Exposures and Non Core Assets leasing, in two words bad loans: this is the topic of these days and the title of the roundtable organized during the Leasing Forum by Assilea, the Italian Association for leasing. “Italy is a target when we talk about Npls, but its assets seem to have become suddenly interesting –comments Katia Mariotti, Ernst &Young partner – “Even though the amendment on Npls is now a law and many signs of progress have been made on the Turnaround, there is still a lot to do on the Leasing side”. Among the interventions, there is the one of Stefano Scalera, advisor of the Minister for Economy Padoan, as well as the opinions expressed by the operators of the industry such as Unicredit Leasing, Banca Finint, Intesa San Paolo Provis, and Alba Leasing. Between Non Performing Exposures (900 billion) and Non Core Assets (1,100 billion), we are talking about 2,000 billion of nonstrategic assets in Europe, a volume which remains extremely high despite the interventions of the BCE. About one-third of the stock is in Italy.

Besides the technical evaluations on the quality and distributions of the NPLs, the event is also an occasion to review the recent news introduced with the law on securitizations, which permits not only to sell the bad loans, but also the assets under leasing contracts. In this area, the non performing reaches 25.6 billion, 76% of which comes from real estate, followed by machinery (13%), vehicles and energy (4% each). Assilea presents three investigations on leasing NPLs which show an increase of the collection rates on the exposure at the moment of default and an improvement of the collection rates on industrial properties. The view is positive, therefore, but it’s crucial solving some points. For instance, the impossibility to sell the property not regularised yet, to which the solution adopted for the Venetian banks may apply, that required the buyer of the property to take responsibility for its regularisation within 120 days.

 

Sold Isola F4: signs of recovery for the office district of Naples

 

The 18th July an important real estate operation in the office district of Naples was finalized. The company 24 Real Estate has negotiated the sale of a portion of properties for a total surface of 500 Sq m, all sold today. The Virgilio Fund, managed by Finanziaria Internazionale Investments Sgr S.p.A, sold to Agc immobiliare Srl and Di.Ge immobiliare srl from the National Consortium of Security (Cns Scarl), all societies managed by the Naples entrepreneur Antonio Romano, for a price of approximately 5.2 million and with the financial support of  Credem Leasing and of MPS leasing.

According to the experts of the sector, the sale of Isola F4 is a clear signal of recovery of the real estate market in the office district area of Naples after a long crisis. In fact, after transfers ( the tower occupied by Telecom for instance ) and cancellations ( Enel has announced to be leaving the properties owned by Torre Sgr), finally we can register a sale. On the other hand, it’s quite recent the other sale of the building just beside to the Pegaso Telematic University. After the renovation works, the Pegaso new headquarter will be launched soon.

The real estate property sold to Cns has a total surface of 4,980 gross Sq m distributed between the ground and eighth floors, the whole16th  and part of the 17th. 43covered parking spaces in the first and second level of the basement are allotted to the units. The properties are rented to the Police station Vasto Arenaccia, the Judicial Police, Groupama Assicurazioni, Gi&Ma Srl, and Rdf Investimenti Srl, for a total value of 600 thousand euro yearly, net of consortium charges. The group led by Antonio Romano is specialized in the installation and maintenance of security systems, especially for banks. Today with its 250 employees, it manages 5000 installations throughout Italy, leading the sector and achieving a turnover of 15 million per year.

The group 24 was created by the merger of two companies operating in different sectors among financial, real estate and legal services. Today it relies on a network of professionals of the credit, real estate agents and consultants, operating in the whole country with offices in Milan, Rome, and Naples. Within the society, 24Real Estate, led by the Naples entrepreneur Rino Moscariello, provides real estate consulting and brokerage services for investments opportunities in Italy and abroad in the “turnkey” residential, commercial, retail, hotel, and industrial sectors.

Source: http://mobile.ilsole24ore.com/solemobile/main/art/casa/2017-07-19/venduta-l-isola-f4-segnali-ripresa-il-centro-direzionale-napoli-165126.shtml?uuid=AEpwrqzB

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

Zero interest rates spur boom in office prices

The real estate market is doing well and even better than before the crisis

Claudio Santucci, manager for the Capital Market division of Gabetti: “It will be like this till the inflation will get close to zero” 

 

Not all real estate is the same. In Italy, we are all (or almost) owners of first, second, and often third houses. Despite this, the residential segment is just a limited quota in the investment funds’ asset allocations, compared to other asset classes such as offices and retail. Taxation, uncertainties regarding civil justice (in the case of tenants with arrears) do not certainly stimulate the appetite of investors. Nevertheless, they were the ones that have moved capitals for 1.85 billion euro, +57% on a yearly basis, only in the period from January to March 2017, according to the report by the firm Ufficio Studio Gabetti. In 2016, 9.1 billion euro were invested in properties of the capital market segment, +13.6% compared to 2015: offices, shopping centres, properties for logistic purposes and hotels.

 

Hence, the real estate is doing well and even better. Claudio Santucci knows it well. He has been working for eight years in the Gabetti agency as manager of the Capital Market division and he witnessed in first person the victory of real estate on the financial markets. He started working in Gabetti in April 2010 coming from an international company, he holds a master in Real Estate Finance from Bocconi and a degree in Law. Claudio Santucci, aged 42, has a clear view of the evolution of the market: “ Real estate – he says – will have this appeal till the inflation will get close to zero. Nowadays it is negative on a monthly basis. This means that the big capital investments in real estate will continue to grow and they’ll be preferred among other types of investments”.

 

Offices are the best sellers. In the first quarter of  2017 they represented the 57.4% of the investments, for a total of approximately 1.06 billion euro, followed by the so called “mixed portfolios” for 12% of the total., with about 224 million euro, by retail properties (basically shops) with 211 million euro (11.4% of the total), the hotels with 157 million euro (8.5% of the total) and the inevitable “other purposes” with 94 million euro (5% of the total). The investments in health care and nursing homes are also interesting, they moved in the first quarter of 2017 75 million euro (the 4%) against the industrial and logistic segment that made 1.6% of the total with barely 30 million euro.

 

Don’t think though that in all these big real estate operation s the agencies are celebrating. Usually, the operations are more like “trading cards among SGRs”, as per Santucci’s definition. “Most of them are off-market operations, in which the potential buyer who’s interested in a specific property communicates through his advisor his interest to the property owners, all without the property is actually put on the market. The consulting firms that provide services to the buyers generally operate according different types of mandate: the advisory mandate, or the buy or sell side investment consultation; the brokerage mandate, or  the negotiation of the sale; the mandate of implementation and management  in a procedure for a specific bid; and the mandate for the so called sell & lease back operations”.

 

There is Milan, there is Rome, and there is the rest. Needless to say, the place to be at the moment is Milan. The city collected in the first quarter the 36.1% of the total domestic investments, 670 million euro. After the big operations of the former Expo, the Island and the Porta Garibaldi area, now it’s the moment for Cordusio Square, which is preparing for Starbucks, coming in 2018 in the former Poste building, along with a Waldorf Astoria ( a luxury hotel from the Hilton group), plus a series of prestigious retail brands that are impatient to land in Milan.

 

The big operations started a long time ago and Gabetti played a role in this, with a 34 million property from the former Beni Stabili Gestioni (now Investire SGR) sold to a real estate fund of the Invesco galaxy in November 2015. “it will be completely renovated in the next 18 months and it will become one of the symbols of the Cordusio area”, grants Santucci, which stresses: “Milan has never been so attractive: all the international institutional investors want to invest here, in terms of income, the last transactions even exceed the years 2006-2007”. Also for what concerns the industrial – logistic segment, the province of Milan in 2016 placed itself as the main destination for the investments in the industry ( followed by Emilia – Romagna). Thanks to the growing demand of logistic spaces in an increasingly strategic area for the transportation of goods. There are places where for the big brands, not only the international ones, is important at least to set foot.

 

On the other hand, Rome suffers from the poor infrastructures, the growing management difficulties and a bureaucracy that should be trimmed: “It’s the capital and it’s the most beautiful city in the world, but for an international investor is hard to understand how it may take years to obtain an administrative procedure for the development of  a real estate complex”, highlights Santucci. Perhaps this is the reason why the migration is starting: after Sky and TG5, also Esso is leaving, and Eni is evaluating how to do it. Despite this, the capital has collected in the period January to March the 16.4% of the total real estate investments for what concerns the capital market, for a total of 304 million euro. What about the rest of Italy? It’s one big market, explains the manager, “increasingly dynamic and interesting for retail and hospitality, and we hope it will be the same for offices too. There are some interesting cities in the South, such as Bari and Naples, especially for what concerns shopping centre and shops in the main shopping streets. Florence, for instance, the third main market and with its touristic and cultural vocation, in 2016 doubled the volume of capital invested, becoming the first Italian province for investments in hospitality”.  What are the forecasts for the future? This will continue for another year, one year and a half: “I see a further growth for the Italian market from now till the end of the year, with the consolidation of the operations currently in the pipeline. We at Gabetti, in particular, are working on some operations which we expect to complete by the end of the year. In all cases the seller is Italian and the investments come from abroad. Concerning the Italian market, we’re talking about big operations, each of them never below 20 million, in some cases above 50 million euro. It’s clear that if the there is an additional trend of stability, we’ll see a new consolidation phase for the real estate market with the return of the capital in several markets”.

 

Even then, there will be space for operations: “We expect great returns, especially if, with some creativity, we’ll be able to create operations different from the usual ones (offices and retail). I’m thinking about social housing, student and senior houses and more residential, for which there is a large space for growth in terms of investments, as well as more added value operations that will be interesting for the future”.

Source: Economy

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

Carige, offers four properties and Npls

A real estate operator aiming at the whole portfolio. Interest also for Creditis

Debate with Bce about the governance. Perhaps one of the men of Volpi to replace Bastianini

 

The new Ceo Paolo Fiorentino has a dense agenda for Banca Carige. The next meeting of the board of directors is already scheduled for 3rd August and in this occasion, the biannual report will be approved. Moreover, the board might examine the letters of intent for its real estate portfolio e the non-disclosure agreement for the transfer of 1.2 billion of impaired loans and the recovery. For the bank from Genoa, it will be an important step, even though the negotiations will be completed only after the summer break. Concerning the properties, Carige put on sale its offices in Milan (Corso Vittorio Emanuele and Via Spadari), Rome  (Via Bissolati), and London (Hornton Street), which are currently evaluated by international financial operators of real estate. According to MF-Milano Finanza, one of these should be aiming at the whole portfolio for its expansion operation in the Italian market. Also, Creditis seems to be attractive to investors. In fact, the financial company of the group, due to its low capital absorption and the good growth perspectives, should interest several operators of the Italian market.

In relation to the financial operation approved in June, these transfers should have a value of 200 million in assets, that would add to the already planned 500 million of capital increase. With the rights issue planned for the end of the year, Fiorentino is updating the industrial plan with more aggressive objectives in terms of profitability and cost reduction. The board must start already discussing the document at the 3rd August meeting, also because the amount of the increase will be defined based on the perceived profitability of the bank and on the will of the market to bet on it s recovery.

Another crucial point for Carige is the governance. The former Ceo Guido Bastianini is still negotiating his exit from the bank, while his seat at the board of directors might go to a representative of the shareholder Gabriele Volpi, partner at 6% of Carige through the holding Lonestar. Last June there were some conflicts between Volpi and the Malacalza family, today controlling the relative majority of the bank. The cause was the representation at the board after the discharge of Bastianini following the no-confidence vote to him. In the meanwhile, the bank from Genoa is finalizing its governance system after the criticism that came from the Bce last February. The process is still ongoing, but the guidelines should have been already defined through the continuous dialogue with the Surveillance authority.

Source: Milano Finanza

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

Italian banks: Bce assisting on Npls

The regional bad banks to which the Npls will be transferred are coming. But at which price? The Bce decides to intervene. Same political evaluation for everybody. Hooray for efficiency!

Stock exchange during summer is always dreadful. You never know what it may happen. But it’s also true that, according to many, the Italian stock exchange is overestimated and many banks are at their lowest points. Hence, it may be a good buy opportunity. But there is the threat of NPLs. Nobody knows how to appreciate them, how to evaluate them, and their impact on the financial statements. And indirectly on the stock exchange quotations.

Speak the truth. Are you one of those people that think or have thought this during the past few weeks, perhaps watching the results in the stock exchange of banks such as Unicredit, BPER or Intesa SanPaolo to name a few? Well, you can calm down.

It seems indeed that the evaluations of the NPLs (non performing loans) will be decided by the Bce itself. A committee guided by Daniel Nouy will set the price at which the banks can transfer the NPLs to the regional bad banks. Think about it. Isn’t it fantastic?

I’ll make a comparison to better illustrate the idea of the Bce. Imagine you are the owner of a used car from 2007. You want to sell it, you don’t know how to do it and the first thing you do is checking the evaluations on the specialized magazines. But you also have to consider the conditions of tyres, card body, and engine, etc… Then the Bce says: “Stop, let’s avoid mess. We’ll take care of it. All the cars registered in 1997 are worth the 20% of the current purchase price, of a new car”. It’s obvious that this will originate some evaluations not coherent at all with reality.

Should we fear a too strict Bce? I don’t think so. It would counterproductive. If the evaluation is “generous”, the Italian banks will celebrate. It’s sales time, after all.

Source: http://intermarketandmore.finanza.com/banche-italiane-assist-della-bce-sugli-npl-81018.html

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

1.5 billion invested in real estate in Milan

The city leads the growth of the sector, with operations for 4.9 billion in the last semester. Public institutions and privates working to repeat the performance

It’s clear that in Italy the investments in real estate are recovering, in Milan more than in other cities of the country. According to the figures from the leading company of the sector JLL, the investments in Italy were equal to 4.9 billion, 16% more than June 2016, which was already a good year. Milan confirms as the first target of these investments, with 1.5 billion registered since the beginning of the year.

In the second quarter of the year, in particular, the investments exceeded 3 billion, 67% compared to the previous quarter and increasing by 45% compared to the same period of last year. But the focus is on speeding up the growth in order to have the real estate leading the Italian economic recovery, perhaps taking advantage of Brexit to attract new international investors. With this objective in mind, it’s going to take place in Milan a meeting between institutions, administrations, and privates. The occasion is the event “Festa Metropolitana città di Milano”  which will end Sunday next week. The platform “C’e Milano da fare” is already launched and it’s the result of the commitment that both candidates to mayor, Giuseppe Sala and Stefano Parisi, took during the elections one year ago. To honour this commitment, Sala has started a city protocol subscribed by  Assimprendil Ance Milano, Lodi, Monza e Brianza, and Assoimmobiliare Milano, with the aim of having a constant debate among the mayor, the council members, and the offices and associations taking part in the project.

“Among the priorities there are favouring the investments, intervening on the abandoned areas, maintaining a dialogue between the public administrations and construction and real estate companies for the development of the city, as well as fair regulation like in other countries to attract investments”, states Paolo Crisafi, Assoimmobiliare General Director, who took part in the many meetings organized in these days as real estate and lobby expert. “C’e Milano da fare” could be repeated on a National level to fuel the dialogue between public administration and constructions and real estate industry, as well as the associated sectors”, he continues.

After all, the figures themselves tell that Milan is the example to follow, starting from the office segment, first target of the investors in the first semester, with 1.8 billion, representing 38% of the volumes. Of the 21 operations carried out, 14 were in Milan. “The city is perceived by the investors as the more open to adopting the procedural standard accepted worldwide”, declared yesterday the Minister of the Interior, Marco Minniti, who also took part in the meetings.

Source: Milano Finanza

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi