Cordea Savills and Romeo Gestioni plan bid for Italian public property contracts

The Italian government is expected to invite bids from Italian asset management companies, or societa di gestione del risparmio (SGRs), to manage all or part of central, regional and local government assets, which are estimated to be worth EUR €55bn in total.

The government will invite the SGRs to tender for the setting up and management of investment funds within which publicly owned property assets will be held and sold.

Already, Cordea Savills SGR, a subsidiary of Cordea Savills, an international property investment manager, has announced a preliminary agreement with Romeo Gestioni, Italy's largest facilities manager of publicly owned real estate.

The agreement is with a view to explore as a joint venture the opportunities resulting from the Italian government's general spending review programme, which sets out to cut the country's deficit in line with European requirements by realising value in public property assets.

Cordea Savills SGR will bring access to a network of institutional investors and international experience to the partnership, while Romeo will bring local market experience in the management of public properties in Italy.

Justin O'Connor, chief executive at Cordea Savills (pictured), said: "This agreement will bring Cordea Savills into partnership with a company that already has unparalleled experience in managing publicly owned real estate. Cordea Savills is an international investment manager with experience of investing across many markets on behalf of international institutional clients. 

Alfredo Romeo, managing director of Romeo Gestioni, said: "The right experience will be essential to this project, managing the assets to increase their value and selling them at the right prices. It is a difficult task that demands good local knowledge, which we have."