Italian insurer Generali Group has launched a new real estate boutique focusing on shopping centre investment.
The outfit, called Axis Retail Partners, has been set up as a joint venture with Florencio Beccar, former head of EMEA retail at CBRE Global Investors, and Toby Smith, former portfolio manager for CBRE GI’s European shopping centre fund.
Generali holds a 51% controlling stake through Generali Investments Holding.
Axis Retail will advise on the insurer’s first dedicated fund, the Generali Shopping Centre Fund, which is expected to launch in the second quarter of 2019.
The insurance group will initially invest €500m (£430m) into the fund, which will be open to third-party clients.
It will invest in high-quality, core, and dominant shopping centres across continental Europe, with an annual target total return of 7%.
Generali said the partnership was in line with its strategy to “further increase its exposure to real estate”.
It added that the continental European shopping centre sector continued to be marked by solid fundamentals and offered an interesting entry point owing to the current market juncture.
However, it also “requires a deep industry knowledge and specific skills in order to select the best investment opportunities, manage the assets, produce long-term rental growth and keep risks under control”.
Over the past decade, shopping centre investments have accounted for an annual average of around €20bn within the retail real estate space in Europe, according to Generali.
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