Prelios has teamed up with Secondcap in an arrangement that says as much about the growth in real estate 鈥榮econdaries鈥� as it does about the potential for institutional capital to shift in and out of Italian property markets.
The institutional fund management arm of Prelios has developed 鈥渁n innovative partnership鈥� with Secondcap, according to Paolo Scordino, CEO of Prelios SGR, which will 鈥渋ncrease the liquidity鈥� of clients鈥� investments.
Secondcap has been running a secondary market platform for trading stakes in closed-ended funds since 2011, typically in the private equity sector, but increasingly in infrastructure and real estate.
Already this month, IP Real Estate has reported on developments in the secondary market for real estate funds, including and the final close of .
Francois Gamblin, CEO of Secondcap, told IP Real Estate it was 鈥渜uite logical鈥� to expect the real estate fund secondary market to eventually 鈥渉ave the same kind of turnover to private equity鈥�.
Secondcap has approximately 420 investors on the platform that could be potential buyers of limited-partner positions. For the most part, they will be more focused on private equity, but given Gamblin鈥檚 expectations, this could change.
These investors will have potential access to Prelios SGR鈥檚 25 funds which manage some 鈧�3.7bn of assets.
With Italy expected to become the next European real estate market after Spain to become a major target of international and opportunistic capital, the arrangement could be timely. Just this week, Allianz Real Estate and ING , and Real Estate and Apollo .
At the same time, many Italian institutions are looking to dilute their domestic exposure and begin redeploying in overseas property markets.
Scordino describes the arrangement with Secondcap as a 鈥減rivileged channel for our clients, increasing the liquidity of their investments鈥�. He said: 鈥淎ccessing a more buoyant market means being able to seize more opportunities to increase the investment value faster and at lower costs.鈥�
Secondcap has been working some Italian foundations 鈥渢hat are now willing to get some liquidity out of their investments鈥�, Gamblin said. 鈥淲e are also seeing some situations in Italy where GPs are looking to restructure their funds and the leverage they have.鈥�
