Carlyle, GLG and Stellex won the auction on Officine Maccaferri

03 December, Bebeez

Ad Hoc Group (AHG), a fund group constituted by Carlyle, GLG and Stellex, won the auction held by the Court of Bologna to the acquire Officine Maccaferri, as the company is currently seeking an arrangement among creditors. AHG is to buy Officine Maccaferri for 9.3 million € and issue a bridge loan for 40 million € by the end of 2020.

Source: Bebeez

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

Rimini, the former pasta factory Ghigi has been put for auction

01 March, Chiamami Città

The former pasta factory Ghigi, on the motorway destination San Marino, has been put for sale. It was decided by the Court of Rimini on 27 October 2017. The lawyer Gianluca Laganella, delegated by the Court for the alienation procedure, has published the tender for the public auction scheduled for 29 March 2918.  The upset price is set at 8,518,482 euro.

It’s a real estate complex in a state of neglect, with 26 thousand Sq m destined to production activities. The area and the building itself are the (negative) symbol of the manufacturing industry of Rimini. In fact, at the end of the Fifties, the pasta factory Ghigi was the third Italian pasta producer after Barilla and Buitoni. In 1964 the two brothers Emilio e Angelo Ghigi split up: one continued working in Morciano in the original factory and the other established a new factory in Rimini. The market crisis between the Sixties and the Eighties forced many factories to close (from 730 to 200), and the company Ghici suffered from this crisis as well as from the separation of the two brothers. After a series of new owners, the factory closed in 2005 when the property was owned by Colussi. Since then, there have been several requalification proposals that never have been implemented.

In the meanwhile, the building has been left in a state of total neglect. The Municipality of Rimini had to intervene to remove the asbestos that covered the roofs. Now the old factory has been put for sale looking for possible investors. The property is located in a strategical area for manufacturing.

Source: Chiamami Città

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

House emergency: evictions risen by 100%

09 January, La Verità

The emergency risks to explode in the next months, but very little has been said about the matter so far. The unions raised the alarm: the number of families that can’t afford the pay their mortgages and are forced to leave their houses is growing. This is one of the consequences of the long economic recession that is now manifesting itself as a housing emergency. The situation is worsened by some measures by the Renzi administration that made easier for banks to take back properties of who is behind with payments.

There is some sad irony in the fact the phenomenon was registered for the first time in Florence, the hometown of the former PM, last April. Cgil, Sunia (the union for tenants) and Federconsumatori arranged a press conference to report the situation in the province. In one year, from 2015 to 2016, the auctioned houses went from 1,389 to 2,774, nearly 100% more.

“In the region of Tuscany, the situation is not much better”, wrote Corriere Fiorentino. “We’ve gone from 12,170 auction publications in 2015 to 17,045 in 2016. And the escalation doesn’t seem to stop”, explains Laura Grandi from Sunia, “only in Florence, in the first quarter of 2017, the foreclosures were 180”. According to the data of Cgil, 90% of who lost the house were Italian families, in most cases with children. The situation is not much different in other cities such as Milan. In the past few days, Leo Spinelli from Sicet Cisl declared to Repubblica that “the families evicted and forced by banks to leave their homes have gone from 180 in 2015 to 400 in 2017”. Also in this case, the increase is terrific: over 100%.

But what exactly is going on? Let’s try to explain. The increase of evictions in Italy is confirmed by the detailed report from Astasy srl, a Milan-based consulting firm of the sector, guided by Mirko Frigerio. Since 2015, Astasy has been publishing a report on real estate auctions in the country, providing data for each province. The new edition of the survey will be available shortly, but the last one explains well enough the current situation. “There have been over 267,323 evictions on yearly basis throughout Italy in 2016”, reads the report, “increasing by more than 18.33% from the previous year (2015)”.

Evictions were 225,891 in 2015. They rose to 267,323 in 2016 and they’re assessed around 290,000 in 2017. A very considerable increase. Lombardy led the chart of evictions in 2016 with 54,449 auctions, followed by Sicily, and then Piedmont (21,150 auctions), Lazio (20,190) and Veneto (19,373).

Obviously, not all the auctioned houses are sold and not everyone that can’t pay the mortgage has to leave home. These figures reflect, however, the health of the country. In its 2016 report, Astasy notes that “in 2016 some measures were introduced that speeded up further the eviction mechanism in Italy”. Regarding 2015, continue the experts, “we must keep in mind that the introduction of the decree 132/295 shortened up the collection times making possible, for the first time in Italy, to make offers below the auction starting price, even with a minimum limit of 25%”.

This is a sore spot. Basically, the Renzi administration changed the propriety eviction procedure, speeding up the collection times. This may be a good thing, for one point of view, since banks are constantly required to act on their impaired loans and selling properties is helpful for this purpose. However, the side effect is that more and more families are losing their homes.

In the past, before proceeding with the eviction of families, a series of steps were necessary. The whole procedure was managed by the judicial authorities, and the appeal to the police force was rather uncommon. The situation changed in 2015. “Now”, explains Leo Spinelli for Sicet, “the judge delegates the procedure to a custodian, who needs only a phone call to summon the police force and kick people out of their homes. Not only. In the past, before forcing people out of their homes, you had to wait for the house to be sold at auction. Whereas now the custodian can get people out of the property even before the house is put on the market”. It’s clear that the aim is to raise the property value, selling it already vacated. Finally, there is the issue over offers below the auction starting price. Before the new regulation, who had a debt with the bank could repay it almost entirely when the house was sold at auction. Sometimes there was even some money left to return to the property market.

Now, the situation has changed. “Now you lose the property”, says Spinelli, “and the money earned from the sale is not enough to repay the debt”. It’s easy to understand how this makes the emergency even worse: who is unable to pay the mortgage not only has to leave his home but also ends up with no money and with outstanding debts.

“Before, families could benefit from the long procedures to stay in the house a little longer”, explains Aldo Rossi of the Sunia headquarter. “Now, the custodian makes people leave before putting the house on auction. The social issue is evident: the root cause is that people are unable to pay their mortgage. These measures favour banks and there is no social protection for those losing their home”.

These are the consequence of the Renzi administration, that met the needs of creditors (banks in most of the cases) and penalised debtors (citizens struggling with payments).

Source: La Verità

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

The State Property Office sells 36 properties in November in Piedmont and Emilia

27 October, Il Sole 24 Ore

In November 36 properties will go on auction. There are 17 properties in Emilia-Romagna, divided into three tenders. Among the most prestigious properties, there is a one-million-euro complex in Piacenza and a former beer brewery for 620 thousand euro in Bologna. In Piedmont, 19 properties will be auctioned in just one tender, including a former prison for 365 thousand euro in Saluzzo and two historical buildings for 270 thousand each in Aglié and in Casale Monferrato.

The post office building on sale in Piacenza

The first tender for Emilia will expire on 2 November and concerns 13 properties. The most expensive is an office building in Ravenna, for 151 thousand euro, with the possibility to obtain also the adjoining garage. While the depot in Bertinoro, 10 km from Cesena, is worth 103 thousand euro. The building is for commercial use and includes a garage. In Alfonsine, in the province of Ravenna, a crumbling building for 53 thousand euro will be auctioned. In Vernasca, near Piacenza, a small depot for 31 thousand euro and a warehouse for 8 thousand will go on sale. Finally, there is a garage 29-thousand-euro worth in Bellaria-Igea Marina (Rimini) and there are seven parking lots in Forlì, all in the same street and 3-4 thousand euro each.

The second tender expires on 8th November and is dedicated to just one property: Palazzo Serafini, built in Piacenza at the end of the 16th century with a starting price of one million and 545 thousand euro. The building is in the city centre and hosted public offices until the beginning of the 00s. Always in Piacenza, there is another property that will be auctioned with the last tender of the region, that will take place on 20th November. We’re talking about the old post office, another historical building 500 metres from the City Hall, with a price starting from 623 thousand euro, already auctioned in September at the same price and a restaurant for 252 thousand euro.

For what concerns the properties in Piedmont, the deadline is on 14th November. The most expensive is the former prison in Saluzzo (Cuneo) built in the 15th century and with a starting price of 365 thousand euro. In Aglié, 40 km from Turin, there is Palazzo Birago, an aristocratic residence built between the 16th and 17th century, that the State Property Office tried to sell already in May.

The old prison in Saluzzo (Cuneo)

The requested price was 300 thousand euro, now it has gone down to 270 thousand euro. The same price is for the former military bakery in Casale Monferrato, built five centuries ago as a part of a religious complex. In Mondovì, in the province of Cuneo, there are a barracks for 140 thousand euro. In the province of Biella, a depot is on sale for 76 thousand euro, the same price requested for a similar property in Ghislarengo, near Vercelli.

About 30 km north, in Valduggia, it’s possible to buy a house for 60 thousand euro. While in the south, in Livorno Ferraris, there is a residential property for 34 thousand euro on sale. In the province of Vercelli, there are other seven units, four of which in Serravalle Sesia: an apartment in bad conditions is worth 16 thousand euro, a portfolio of several apartments for 11 thousand euro and two garages, one for 5 thousand and the other for 6 thousand euro. In Arborio, a warehouse is on sale for 5 thousand euro, in Bianzè two commercial properties for 20 thousand each, in Biella, there is one for 9 thousand. In Candelo, a residential property to be renovated is on auction for 6 thousand euro, while in Portula, 30 km north, there is an old construction for 10 thousand euro. The last property on sale is the complex worth 11 thousand euro in Borgomanero, in the province of Novara.

Source: Il Sole 24 Ore

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi