Apollo buys €842m portfolio from Italian pension fund
Italian pension fund Fondazione Ente Nazionale di Previdenza ed Assistenza dei Medici e degli Odontoiatri (ENPAM) has agreed to sell its directly owned real estate portfolio to an Apollo fund for €842 million.
Apollo European Principal Finance Fund III, which is managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, is acquiring the portfolio which comprises 68 commercial and residential assets which include hotel, retail, logistics and parking assets primarily located in Rome and Milan.
“We are pleased to reach this agreement with Apollo to help deliver on our primary objective of providing retirement income to ENPAM pensioners,” said ENPAM chairman Alberto Oliveti.
“As we prepare to reach the peak of retirement for our members, this divestment allows us to realise important savings and to allocate the proceeds towards diversified, mission-related investments that will offer adequate reserves and returns to meet our commitments.”
Apollo’s European Principal Finance business is the second largest, closed-end fund franchise within Apollo, following only the flagship private equity funds, with $7 billion of assets under management as at end-June.
The first EPF fund launched in 2009 and was created to capture a broad range of opportunities arising from distress, deleveraging and the realignment of financial service models. Since inception, the EPF funds have invested over $9 billion of capital.
Apollo focused on broadening its European portfolio
Skardon Baker, head of European Principal Finance, said that the deal demonstrates “Apollo EPF’s continued commitment to working with European financial institutions to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes, in this case using our transitionary capital to provide ENPAM with greater liquidity and financial flexibility to serve its pension members. We remain focused on broadening our European portfolio and building on our strong foundation of successful strategic real estate investments in Italy”.
“These high-quality properties in prime locations with strong alternative use potential are a great fit for our multi-disciplinary asset management capabilities. With a truly heterogenous portfolio composition and increased market demand, we are confident that this group of assets will be attractive to tenants as well as local and international investors”, continued Samuele Cappelletti of Apollo.
ENPAM is Italy’s largest private first-pillar pension fund. Established in 1937, it provides retirement benefits and insurance to nearly half a million medical doctors and dentists. ENPAM has over €25 billion of assets under management.
