The Telco Infra 2 fund, managed by Prelios sgr and fully subscribed by Hayfin Capital Management, acquired 55 telephone exchanges in Italy. The seller is the Clarice Light Industrial fund, managed by Prelios sgr itself (see the press release here).
The Clarice Light Industrial fund was established in 2004 when 70 entirely leased properties, mainly for light industrial use, were contributed by Tiglio I srl and Tiglio II srl, which were companies indirectly controlled by the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds (see here the press release at the time). We recall that Tiglio I and Tiglio II were two companies to which in 2002 properties for a total value of 4 billion euro were transferred by the joint ventures between Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds and Pirelli Real Estate and by Olivetti and Telecom Italia groups (see the press release of the time here).
In the sale to the Telco 2 Infra fund, the Clarice fund was supported by Legance – Avvocati Associati for the legal and administrative aspects, by Plusiders for the tax aspects and by Prelios Integra for the technicians. The Telco Infra 2 fund was instead assisted by law firms Latham & Watkins and Villata, Degli Esposti and Associati for the legal and administrative aspects, EY for the tax and technical aspects and CBRE for real estate consultancy.
The telephone exchanges involved in the transaction are distributed throughout the country, leased with recently renegotiated “triple net” type contracts with a long-term maturity. The control units, which cover a total area of over 170,000 square meters, are almost exclusively positions serving the fiber network, with over 20 interconnection points at different levels of the network.
The sale of the portfolio by the Clarice fund, which took place through a competitive procedure promoted with the support of Intesa Sanpaolo (IMI Corporate & Investment Banking division) as financial advisor, allowed the fund to achieve the plan objectives within the scope of the expected duration of the investment. At the same time, the operation allowed Prelios sgr to confirm itself as an operator also in the area of industrial assets, and to expand its customer base by entering into a partnership with a new leading international private equity investor.
Alessandro Busci, manager of the management area of Prelios sgr, commented: “The telephone exchange market continues to be of great interest both for Prelios and for national and foreign investors looking for investments in infrastructures with good long-term profitability, with a coupon-type repayment profile. We also believe that the ongoing technological infrastructural evolution allows for a long-term positioning, in which the skills of the manager and the selectivity of the investment are an element of increasing attention on the part of investors “.
Andrea Calzavacca, advisory manager of CBRE Italy, added: “This is the largest single transaction concluded on the market in 2021 from the beginning of the year to today for this type of asset class and one of the largest carried out in the last 5 years. a historical context in which technological advancement continually redefines the relevance of positions at the service of telecommunication infrastructures and thus comes to influence every aspect of this market, which then involves technical, legal and financial issues. The structuring of similar transactions, capable of to generate a positive yield differential with respect to other types of investment, is therefore based on an important analysis, also necessary for obtaining the bank debt that partly financed the acquisition ”.
The value of the transaction was not disclosed, but we remind you that last May the Madison Imperiale fund, managed by Quinta Capital sgr, sold its latest assets in its portfolio, namely 14 telephone exchanges rented to TIM, at a price of 49 million euros. The assets were acquired by ApWireless, a subsidiary of Radius Global Infrastructure (see here a previous article by BeBeez). Last April, moreover, the same fund had sold to private investors a first group of 23 telephone exchanges leased to TIM and based in Lazio, Lombardy, Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna and Liguria for 19 million euros (see here a previous article by BeBeez).
Last week, CBRE also joined Kryalos in a similar deal, when Fondo Due, managed by Kryalos sgr, sold 40 telephone exchanges to the Polvanera fund, again managed by Kryalos sgr and again entirely subscribed by Hayfin Capital Management. In addition to the power plants, the portfolio also included public communication network infrastructures and related areas, for a total of 120,000 square meters. The buildings are entirely leased to a leading Italian telecommunications group (see here a previous article by BeBeez). We recall that last April the Polvanera fund sold to a private investor two other properties used as telephone exchanges in Lombardy: the first, in Garbagnate Milanese (Milan), occupies approximately 1,200 square meters; the second, in Mandello del Lario (Lecco), has an area of over 1,500 square meters (see here a previous article by BeBeez)
Finally we recall that last August Hayfin acquired through the Lamber fund, also managed by Kryalos, a data center in Milan in via Kuliscioff 32 in the Lorenteggio area. The property is entirely leased to Vodafone and changed hands for about 20 million euros (see here a previous article by BeBeez). Last January Hayfin acquired from DeA Capital Real Estate sgr the offices of the insurance company UnipolSai, located in San Donato Milanese, in a building with an area of approximately 13 thousand square meters (see here a previous article by BeBeez).
