AXA Real Estate acquires the Bodio Center business park in Milan

AXA Real Estate Investment Managers (“AXA Real Estate”), the leading real estate portfolio and asset manager in Europe, with €45 billion of assets under management as at March 2013, announces that it has acquired, on behalf of a client, two prime office buildings, totalling 24,000 sqm, as well as two retail buildings, totalling 4,000 sqm, at the Bodio Center business park, in Milan, from Aberdeen Asset Management for €63.9 million.  The transaction represents AXA Real Estate’s largest acquisition in Italy since 2010.
 
The buildings acquired include the Bodio 4 and Bodio 5 office schemes, as well as the Le Vela and La Stilo retail buildings. The office buildings are fully let to high quality tenants across several industry sectors and act as the Italian headquarters of a major global pharmaceutical company.  In addition, an agreement has been reached with an important Italian retail banking chain, to occupy 10,000 sqm at Bodio 4 as its corporate headquarters. The retail buildings are also fully let to two restaurant operators and a gym, providing useful amenities for the complex’s office workers.
 
The Bodio Center was completed in 2004 and is located in the city’s north-west quadrant.  It comprises 65,000 sqm of office-led space and is situated within an established business location in Milan, which is home to several high-profile domestic and multinational corporations.
 
Alessio Lucentini, Head of Italian Asset Management & Transactions at AXA Real Estate, said: “This acquisition shows AXA Real Estate’s strong local investment management and execution skills, as well as our ability to attract non domestic capital on relatively large transactions in Italy; this being one of the first by a non-Italian investor since the economic crisis began.”
 
Riccardo Dallolio, European Head of Transactions at AXA Real Estate, said:  “The acquisition at the Bodio Center has allowed us to purchase two high quality office buildings in one of Milan’s major business districts, let to quality tenants with strong covenants, at an opportune time in the market cycle.  This transaction shows that we are active within value add opportunities at attractive pricing on behalf of our clients.”
 
Source : Company