Month: April 2018

Prices hiking in Milan

24 April, Corriere della Sera

According to Idealista.it, the latest figures concerning the demand from houses show the remarkable growth of Milan in comparison with the rest of the market. Prices in the city registered in the first quarter of the year a 2.3% increase, against the -1.2% of the national average. The Turin market has also grown (6.1%), along with Naples (0.5%), while prices in Rome have remained unchanged. Prices in Italy have decreased on a yearly basis by 3.8%, while in Milan they’ve raised by 0.6%.

Source: Corriere della Sera

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

New luxury hotels from Brevio to Tremezzo

24 April, Il Sole 24 Ore

New openings, exclusive overhauls, five stars upgrades. There are many changes in the hotel market on the Como Lake.

The British fund Attestor Capital has recently acquired through a subsidiary the Casta Diva hotel in Blevio. The hotel was obtained from an extension of the villa of the soprano Giuditta Pasta and it’s particularly beloved by Russian tourists. Not far away, Sereno Hotel opened last summer. It belongs to the same owner of the Hotel in St. Barth in the Caribbean, the Venezuelan entrepreneur Luis Contreras, who invested for the hotel 40 million euro. There are 30 spacious suites, a private beach nearby, and a terrace facing the lake. The hotel was designed by Patricia Urqiuola, and it features a Valmont spa and the restaurant Berton.

The Regina Olga hotel in Cernobbio will open at the end of 2019 completely renovated under the brand R Collection of the entrepreneur Franco Rocchi. The hotel will be upgraded to five-star and it occupies a historical building a few steps away from the lake. Once renovated, the Regina Olga will feature 85 rooms and a panoramic restaurant with an open kitchen in the middle. Rocchi has also bought the Vittoria hotel in Menaggio, along with an old nunnery that will accommodate the extension of the hotel reaching in this way one hundred rooms. The renovation works include also the implementation of a 1,500 Sq m spa. The hotel is expected to open at the end of 2018. Whereas in Varenna, R Collection has recently inaugurated Villa Cipressi with 30 rooms and a conference centre.

The popular Grand Hotel Tremezzo has undertaken the management of the Villa Sola Cabiati, which was the residence of the Serbelloni dukes. The 18th-century building is famous for its frescoes by Tiepolo, and it still maintains the old furnishing. Only minor changes have been made to the rooms. Guests can stay in the hotel for a minimum of three nights, enjoying the Simmons beds and the design furniture in the common areas.

There have been many changes in the centre of Como too. The Hilton brand inaugurated in January with a soft opening a big facility in front of Villa Olmo. The property was initially a residential complex, but it encountered some difficulties on the market. Many people talk about the great success of the hotel chains. The Hilton Lake Como features 170 rooms and it’s the biggest hotel on the lake.

The 18 suites of the Vista hotel will also open soon. The hotel is owned by the Passera family and it occupies the villa where the politician Gianfranco Miglio took refuge. The charming property has kept the library and the old furnishings in the rooms which have been collected while travelling all around the world. It features four guest rooms.

Source: Il Sole 24 Ore

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

 

NPL. The ECB might give up on strict rules on bad loans

27 April, Wall Street Italia

The European Central Bank is currently evaluating the possibility of doing without the regulations forcing banks to make bigger provisions against their NPL stocks. The ECB guidelines, expected by March, were presented as the key element to attack the 759-billion-euro stock of non-performing loans of the banks of the Eurozone, especially from Greece, Portugal and Italy.

As communicated by a spokesman, the ECB might be evaluating the necessity of these regulations on bad loans and this will depend on the achievements of each bank. A decision on the matter hasn’t been taken so far, and the ECB is currently pondering which steps to take. According to Reuters, even if the current rules will be abolished, the ECB will continue closely supervising those banks struggling with bad loans.

Cleaning up banks’ statements from all the bad loans inherited from the financial crisis is an essential condition for the approval by countries like Germany of the constitution of a guarantee system on bank deposits common to all the Eurozone. The NPL guidelines give banks seven years to fully hedge secured loans and two years for the unsecured ones.

The initial plan implying similar guidelines for the stock of existing credits looks now less likely, according to Reuters. The ECB might have changed its mind after some member of the European Parliament pointed out that the institution was invading their rights applying rules to all the banks, rather than working on the single cases.

Source: Wall Street Italia

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

Namira, the Severgnini-Scaroni axis

24 April, Milano Finanza

There is a new alliance in the real estate management sector that bets on distressed assets: the one between Paolo Scaroni and Carlo Severgnini. The new partnership decided to bet on the potential of Namira Sgr, the Milan-based company guided by the Ceo Eugenio Radice Fossati (owning 39.5% of the capital), taking over 29.67% of the company and becoming in this way the second largest partner of the asset manager. The investment, whose amount was not disclosed, was carried out by Severgnini Family Office. This is one of the many businesses of the investment holding Finsev, ranging from Camperio sim to catering (with Camperio Basement). Among the Namira partners, there is also the Enel and Eni Ceo, as well as vice president of the merchant bank Rothschild and consultant for the American fund Elliott and of the Chinese management of the new Milan FC (on which Elliott holds a security for 100%). More in detail, Scaroni holds 14.83% of the asset manager, consolidating in this way his partnership with Carlo Severgnini. Following the investment, Severgnini left the role of president of the Namira Board of Auditors to join the Board of Directors headed by Paolo Alessandro Bonazzi, a minority shareholder of the real estate management company.

According to the 2016 financial statement, Namira manages seven investment funds for a total value of 473 million. Its portfolio is diversified between retail, commercial and residential properties located throughout Italy. Its business expansion plan implies also the diversification of the offer through the launch last year of three new funds: one dedicated to banks, one to institutions, and one to public agencies. This brought to the creation of the fund Namira Distressed I, the vehicle dedicated the domestic banks and focused on the management of the real estate assets put as a security of non-performing loans. After all, NPL is one of the most active, profitable and dynamic sectors at the moment in Italy. The second option regards the acquisition of a significant real estate portfolio dedicated to national and international institutional investors seeking long-term returns. Finally, the third vehicle aims at the revaluation of the real estate portfolio of the Municipality of Civitavecchia through the constitution of a public contribution fund while looking for private investors in the meanwhile. Namira SGR reported in 2016 commission incomes of 2.25 million and profits for nearly 78 thousand euro.

Source: Milano Finanza

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

Rome: Finnat interested in Palazzo Altieri

24 April, Il Sole 24 Ore

Italian bankers have found a buyer for Palazzo Altieri, the 16th-century building which accommodates the Abi headquarters: Banca Finnat. The Abi management has already started evaluating the possible next location. The managers are intending to buy a property in Milan. For this purpose, the General Director Giovanni Sabatini was appointed for the selection among about a dozen options, and the final decision is expected by the next meeting of members in May in Milan. The decision of selling Palazzo Altieri, a property subject to very strict restrains, to find a more functional location reflects the radical change in strategy by the Ceo Antonio Patuelli. Only five years ago, the company was still buying portions of the building – such as Sala della Clemenza – through a capital increase of Bancaria Immobiliare. The optimization of the Rome offices includes also the termination of the very expensive lease of the former “Bottegone”, once the PCI headquarters.

Source: Il Sole 24 Ore

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

The ECB allows more time to credit unions to dispose of NPL

26 April, Blasting News

The new Asset Quality Review tranche, namely the assessment by the ECB on the provisions on bad loans, might be postponed for credit unions. The assessment was initially planned for the autumn, but it might be postponed to the first quarter of 2019, according to some rumours.

This is good news since it gives more times to banks to clean up their financial statements, considering also the recent guidelines included in the addendum by the ECB.

The advantages

Having the assessment and the stress test in 2019 rather than 2018 means carrying out these verifications on this year’s figures and not on those of 2017, including in this way the remarkable results obtained in the reduction of NPL. According to Il Sole 24 Ore, the staff from Banca d’Italia and the ECB is already working at the parent bank’s site to assess the advancement stage of the consolidated statement.

The postponement might be also due to the decision of waiting for the upcoming constitution of the three groups, namely Iccrea, Cassa Centrale and the credit unions of Alto Adige. The groups are about to be admitted soon to the European Surveillance.

The NPL reduction activity

According to recent news, the NPL stock of the future Iccrea Group is 20 billion gross and 9.7 net.

The actions aimed at reducing this stock include a first transfer for 800 million by mid-2018 and transfers for a total of 3.5-4 billion throughout the next 2 years according to the business plan.

For what concerns Cassa Centrale, its NPL ratio is set at 16.5% and it’s expected to reduce to 8% by 2021. A challenging objective but not impossible considering the good capital base with an 18.4% Cet1 at the end of 2017. The disposal plan implies three tranches, a first amounting to one billion by December 2018 which will benefit from the Ifrs9 accounting principle, a second with a 740 million securitisation which should be put on the market in 2019, and the third for 3.4 billion in 2020.

Source: Blasting News

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

Inaugurated the Prada Foundation Tower

24 April, Il Sole 24 Ore

The Milan skyline is changing once again with the opening of the Prada Foundation Tower.

The glass and concrete structure was designed by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas together with the OMA studio, it’s 60 metres high and has a total surface of 2 thousand Sq m. The building accommodates the Prada collection: from Jeff Koons to Walter De Maria, from Pino Pascali to Carsten Höller and Damien Hirst. The two floors on the top are occupied by a restaurant offering a panoramic view of the city.

Source: Il Sole 24 Ore

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

Retail decreased in Italy at the beginning of 2018

24 April, Il Sole 24 Ore

2018 has started slowly compared to 2017 for what concerns investments in commercial properties. According to BNP Paribas Real Estate, the volumes in the first quarter dropped by 1.5 billion euro, 25% less compared to the same period of the previous year. However, we must keep in mind that 2017 was a very dynamic year, with an investment record of 11.1 billion.

Source: Il Sole 24 Ore

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

Cromwell is acquiring an office building in Italy for 16.9 billion

25 April, Re Quadro

Cromwell European Reit is negotiating the acquisition of an office building 16.9 billion worth. According to the website The Business Times, the manager of the company declared that Perpetual, the Reit trust fund, concluded a preliminary agreement with Savills Investment Management Sgr for the purchase of the building.

The property is currently part of the fund C3 Investment Fund managed by Savills and 100% owned by Cerberus Sicav. Moreover, the agreement implies the possibility for Cromwell to pay to Cerberus an additional price up to 652 thousand in case of certain conditions which were not disclosed.

Cromwell is intending to fund the acquisition through a combination of bank funding by Banca Imi and an unsecured revolving credit line for 75 million euro granted by Ing Bank.

The building has a net surface of 17,990 Sq m and the occupancy rate is 100%, declared Cromwell. The tenants are Vodafone Italia and La Direzione del Benessere, a fitness and wellness centre. The weighted average lease duration calculated on 23rd April 2018 is over five years.

The acquisition might be concluded by the end of June.

Source: Re Quadro

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

Lavagna, the old Astoria hotel acquired by Dmore

17 April, Il Secolo XIX

Astoria was sold at auction for 4 million euro. The old hotel in Cavi Arenelle was acquired by Dmore from Bergamo. The company, as the website reads, “is focused on high added value real estate operations”.

Dmore has already implemented some operations in Como, Mantova, Milano, Piacenza and Pavia. That in Lavagna is the first in Liguria. The negotiations are currently on with the Municipality to restart the works on the old hotel which stopped in April 2013. ZH General Construction Company spa from Campo Turres (province of Bolzano) stopped the negotiations with Residence Astoria Cavi srl – the property owner – while awaiting the resolution of its financial position since only 6.8 million were issued of the 19 million euro estimated to fund the operation. In January 2015, both companies filed for bankruptcy. The hotel was assigned to an insolvency administrator, the accountant Luigi Spagnolo from Milan. The auction took place a couple of days ago and saw the participation of two Italian companies.

Dmore adjudicated the property upon an offer of 4 million euro. “We hope the works to restart soon”, declared Spagnolo understanding the feelings of the residents, sick of seeing the homeless people coming and going, as the hotel was transformed into a shelter. The architect Enrico De Carlo explains that “the owners got in contact with the Municipality and they’re about to renew soon the building license which expired in the meantime in order to start the works as soon as they’ll be assigned to a construction company. The project remains unchanged on the overall: 42 apartments and a hotel with 160 beds distributed over about eighty rooms. The construction works might require over a year, while the residential part is at a more advanced stage and might be completed before summer 2019. By then, hopefully, also the hotel part will be finished”.

Source: Il Secolo XIX

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi