Month: September 2017

Banca d’Italia selling the palace in Siena that hosted Galileo

 

The sale of the local offices  goes on, as they’re no longer operational after the reorganization process started in past few years

It’s really true that Italy is an open-air museum. And that some tycoon might take advantage of this. The confirmation comes from the recent sales of properties by Banca d’Italia, continuing its branch reorganization campaign. Not a long time ago, the bank used to have offices basically in every   Italian province covering treasury and customer counter services.  Since the past few years, with the introduction of the Euro and the transfer of the monetary sovereignty (coin printing and issuing ) to the BCE, these buildings, in most cases beautiful and exclusive, a piece of architectural history and of Italy itself, have become redundant. Therefore, they were put on sale. There are buildings of different periods, always centrally located, as well the City Council building, the prefecture, or the Carabinieri station. There are also real jewels, as in the case of an offer inserted in the last batch of real estate ads.

In fact, Banca d’Italia is putting on auction a very important property: it’s the Papesse Palace in Siena, to which many publications are dedicated, built along the “Via di Città”, corresponding to the historical residential area of Siena called «Terzo di Città» (third of city), close to Piazza del Campo. The palace was built per order of the sister of the  Pope Pio II, Caterina Piccolomini (from this the denomination “Delle Papesse”) in 1460, and it was probably designed by the architect Bernardo Rossellino and was finished in 1495. It was exactly there, in 1633, that Galileo Galilei was hosted by the archbishop  Ascanio Piccolomini.

He used its platform to observe the moon, as told in the encyclopaedia. These days, the building is completely free and destined to become a museum. The bank itself describes the (good) conditions of the property: 2,945 Sq m, built more or less during the same time the first bank of the history was established (Monte dei Paschi di Siena indeed): “The building, located in Via di Città, is a typical example of renaissance architecture Florentine style, is rectangular shaped, and it develops on two floors above ground. The facade, of monumental dimensions, is entirely made of travertine. The vertical carrying structures are of a stonework of solid bricks. The complex is constituted by one building composed of a compact central body spreading on four floors to which a two-storey adjoining building was added (the old stable and barn) developing on  Via Del Poggio. The building, designed to accommodate the Art Centre for Contemporary Art, is currently free and is in good maintenance conditions”. It’s tempting to pay it a visit. The next owner will surely enjoy it.

 

Source: Milano Finanza

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

Milan, Amundi Re purchases a building for 92 million on behalf of Nexus 1

 

Amundi Real Estate Italia Sgr has purchased a property located at number 4 of Via Verri in Milan on behalf of the reserved fund Nexus 1 for a market value of 92 million euro. The property develops on 8 floors for a total surface of approximately 5,600 Sq m and it’s completely rented. It features among the tenants the Fashion, Art and Design Institute Marangoni, whereas for the retail part there are  Dsquared2, Freddy, and La Martina. The Nexus 1 Fund is a real estate investment trust of the semi-open type under Italian law reserved to experienced investors whose investment strategy is focused on the purchase of non residential properties mainly located in Milan and Rome. The Nexus portfolio reaches in this way a dimension of nearly 500 million euro. In addition, the fund can count on 30 million euro of capital already spent through which it expects to close soon new operations. The shares are entirely held by C. A. Vita, the insurance company of the group Credit Agricole operating in the Italian market.

 

Source: http://www.affaritaliani.it/milano/milano-amundi-re-acquista-palazzo-per-92-milioni-per-conto-di-nexus-1-497613.html

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

Carige, the group Mediobanca in pole position for the purchase of Creditis

 

The international funds look at the Milan office, while Caltagirone is interested in Rome. 33 operators on the NPLs.

The asset transfer process that Carige is undergoing is proceeding at fast pace. With this operation, it is estimated that 200 million will be destined to strengthen the capital of the bank, whose shareholders’ meeting taking place on 28th September will have to vote the capital increase for 560 million, the third in four years after the first two of respectively 800 million and 850 million.

Yesterday the Ceo Paolo Fiorentino updated the Board about the interest of the market and the possibility to match the expected deadlines. According to Secolo XIX, the signals of interest for the purchase of the credit consumer company Creditis are around fifteen and Mediobanca is in pole position “ for credentials and determination of the proposal”. Regarding Creditis, the bank explains that “the competitive process is at the first phase with several counterparts and it will proceed with the selection of the non binding offers by middle September”: the selling price of the company, which is on the financial statement for 40 million, is around 70 million.

For what concerns the sale of the eight exclusive properties, it is understood that the office in Corso Vittorio Emanuele promises to be the first sale of the batch. According to rumours among the interested parties, there are the American funds Hines and Aew Capital Management, the Germans of Triuva and the Italians of Antirion Sgr. Carige expects from the sale of the Milan office (a 2,500 Sq m building, 250 of which at the ground floor with windows) to earn over 100 million. Whereas the group Caltagirone would be looking at the office in Via Bissolati in Rome (20 million), according to the newspaper. Over 2 million are expected from the sale of the London office in Kensington. “A short list of the counterparts that have sent the most interesting offers will be put together by middle September”, writes the bank.

The manifestations of interest are “more than expected”, coming from 33 operators for the transfer of the bad loans portfolio, for a gross value of no less than 1.2 billion, and for the related managing platform: the non binding offers for these activities are expected in the next weeks and the binding offers for the “beginning of November”. While the process related to the cashing services for Pos contracts is in an “advanced phase”.

At the end of the yesterday Assembly, the bank controlled by the Malacalza family (17.6%) explained that for what concerns the commercial relaunch, “the distribution network will be completely reviewed over the month of September, with the directors becoming the promoters of the new model. Each branch will be headed by a director reporting to the 11 regional commercial directors and holding greater powers. The update of the strategic plan till 2019 signed by Fiorentino will be informally discussed with the Board on 8th September and submitted to the approval of the Board of Directors on 13th September. The restoration will go through new redundancies, that rumours estimate to be around 400-500 employees. Yesterday the stock closed with an increase of 2.77% at 23 cents.

 

Source: Secolo XIX

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

Carige generates cash with real estate

 

 

The Banca Carige Board of Directors that gathered last week has confirmed the three lines to follow to get back on track. Capital increase, sales of properties (and shares), and transfer of bad loans. Three important steps that will be completed by the new strategic industrial plan that the Ceo Paolo Fiorentini will present to the financial community the next 13th September (and that the Board will have drafted the day before).

Let’s start with the capital increase. The Board gathered last week has confirmed the decision to proceed mainly with a capital increase operation, in tranches and with a recognized subscription right (except for the tranche potentially reserved for the recipients of the possible liability management operation). The Board, reads the memo published by the group, “acknowledged that the competitive processes concerning the sales of the single assets had regularly continued during the month of August, registering a significant interest from the market, therefore the expected deadlines are confirmed”.

For what concerns the sale of properties, especially the building in Corso Vittorio Emanuele in Milan, the short list of the counterparts that submitted the most interesting offers will be selected by middle September. The selected offers will proceed then to the second phase of the process to arrive at the end of September at the evaluation by the bank of the binding offers. Regarding the sale of the consumer credit company of the group, Creditis, the first phase of the competitive process with several counterparts is continuing and by middle September the selection of the non binding offers will take place. The sale process of the merchant book, the cashing service for Pos terminals contracts, is in an advanced phase too.

Regarding the transfer of the Npl portfolio, for a gross value not below 1.2 billion euro, the bank states to have received more communication of interest than expected from over 30 operators. The non binding offers are expected in the next few weeks and by the beginning of November the binding offers. Therefore, the transfer processes are definitely in full execution, also for what concerns timing, allowing to fulfil the deadline of December for the capital increase. Finally, concerning the commercial relaunch strategy of the group, over the month of September, the distribution network will be completely reviewed, with the branch directors becoming the promoters of the new model of agency, a crucial point in the business plan. In this way, each branch will be headed by a director reporting to the eleven regional commercial directors and with increased powers. For this reason, the group has appointed 150 new branch directors, equal to a third of the whole network of the group.

 

Source: La Stampa

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

 

Three companies racing for the Intesa Npls

 

 

Last stretch for Gwn partnering with Pimco, Pillarstone with Kkr and Catella’s Coima (at its first npl operation), and finally Tpg with Starwood and Prelios. Binding offers by October

It still has to be made official, but we finally have the short list for the management of the Intesa Sanpaolo Rep project, the partnership for the management of the secured non performing loans for about 1.35 billion (similar to the Unicredit Sandokan project). According to MF-Milano Finanza, there are left competing for it Gwm partnering with Pimco, Pillarstone together with Kkr and Coima,  and finally Tpg together with Starwood and Prelios. The binding offers must arrive by October, as per procedure, perhaps with the aim of identifying by the end of the year the group to proceed with. For Coima, the company led by Manfredi Catella and already partner in Italy of Kkr for other projects, this is the first operation with secured non performing loans, and it will cover a technical role besides Pillarstone, which is supposed to take care of the asset management part. The project currently under evaluation should lead to the creation of a Spv vehicle with the investors required to input new assets to maximize the credit collection capacity.

As already happened to Unicredit with Sandokan, also Intesa Sanpaolo will remain partner of the platform once this will go live. This operation by Intesa Sanpaolo is placed in a broader and more general context in which the objective and the bet on the banking system is to collect value from the bad loans, against the will of the Eu Surveillance Authority (which pushes for a transfer) with whom there is currently a heated debate. Intesa Sanpaolo is proving that the challenge, even if not easy, can bring to rather good results if the bank is provided with sufficient assets to manage the portfolios of impaired exposures. In the first half of the year, the collection activities of Capital Light Bank, the division created at the end of 2014 under the guidance of Giovanni Gilli (who will also lead the Rep project) and aimed at managing the non core assets, collected over 800 million. Contributions to this result came from both the internal management and the external servicers, which mostly took care of the smaller portfolios. This figure must be compared to the 600 million collected in the first half of 2016 and with the 1.2 billion of the entire fiscal year. Even before that, in 2014, the bank led by Carlo Messina collected 800 million, raised to 950 in 2015 when Capital Light Bank was fully operational.

Therefore, the bank’s tendency to improvement is consistent and should be confirmed also for the next quarters. In addition, Intesa Sanpaolo has put on place initiatives aimed at increasing the collections through specific incentive systems. Besides, in the first half of the year, the collection activity has been parallel to the stock transfer activity. In fact, Intesa has sold on the market a portfolio for a nominal value of approximately 2 billion, sold to  Christofferson Robb & Company and Bay View (project Beyond the Clouds)  and now it’s working at the Rep project.

At the same time, the reoco activity is going on, taking care of the active management of the real estate guarantees. In the first semester, the structure has carried out direct interventions at auctions as well as intervened as auction support, namely favouring the performance of the external investors in order to have a more active management of the real estate collateral. Following these sort of activities on about 80 properties, there have been adjudications for a value of 1.5 billion.

 

Source: MF-Milano Finanza

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

The whole Mas department store building is on sale for 17 million euro

 

The famous Mas, the Statuto department store, a symbol of the Esquilino building, is now on sale. According to the online advertisement, the property, six storeys and 6 thousand Sq m, is worth 17 million and it needs renovation work. But the story of Mas is priceless. It opened at the beginning of the last century as a luxury department store; then, thanks to the intuition of its founder and owner Giovanni Pezone, recently passed away, became the forerunner of the outlets, as well as a cult symbol for the Rome vintage. The decline started a few years ago with the transfers to a company to another, the troubles with the justice of the widow of Pezone and the mortgages with Bnl. A couple of months ago the store closed down for good and now the final conclusion with the sale of the building.

 

Source: la Repubblica

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

Banco Bpm against the judges for the bankruptcy of Porta Vittoria

 

 

The bank has challenged the decision about the statement of affairs that made it declare bankruptcy two years ago

Two years ago the bank claimed the bankruptcy. Now it’s contesting the measure. Banco Bpm is reopening the matter over the credit claimed (219.5 million) from Porta Vittoria, the real estate company guided by Danilo Coppola that was declared bankrupt on 29th September of one year ago from the judges of the Court of Milan, following the request from Banco Popolare. Today the bank, now merged with Bpm, is on the warpath again. The matter is the decision taken by the deputy judge Amina Simonetti since, as it reads on the biannual report of the bank, “the decision was made on the basis of an alleged directing and coordinating activity by the former Banco Popolare on behalf of Porta Vittoria, due to the financing contract in place and the consequent strong influence on the operational decisions of the company”. An evaluation and a judgement that the third Italian bank didn’t like, and for this reason, it decided to make its reasons heard.  “The bank believes the measure is unfounded and has challenged the statement of affairs after the declaration of its enforcement, applying to prove the mortgage debts from funding without postponement, considered illicit, since the bank wasn’t involved with any directing and coordinating activity”, it reads on the official documents of Banco Bpm. A way to defend its own credit, which between mortgage loans (219.4 million) and current account overdraft (5.6 million) represents more than half of the total Porta Vittoria liabilities, which total to almost 400 million (against the negative net capital of 100 million of the bankrupt real estate group).

The clash, also on an interpretation basis, is linked to the fact that if it’s true that last 22nd March the deputy judge Simonetti, on request of the insolvency administrator, admitted the 219.5 million credit, she did that “with postponement towards all the other creditors and with prepayment privilege that will be valid only for those postponed creditors”. While the remaining 5.6 million were admitted as unsecured credit.

Now the matter is whether the Court will accept the request of Banco Bpm or it will confirm the judge’s decision. Moreover, it is still to be defined how to proceed with the sale of the area (142 thousand Sq m in Milan city centre), mostly still to be built. According to the rumours, the judicial auction will be officially launched in October. The main Italian and international players of the real estate sector are likely to take action on the dossier. Especially because the sale procedure is expected since long.

 

Source: MF-Milano Finanza

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi