DeA Capital: Bank of Italy investigates the Alpha and Atlantic1 funds
Two deals are under scrutiny: the former Saipem site and the properties on Via Lamaro and Via Crespi, the latter having been sold to the Generation fund owned by the Czech businessman Vitek. Meanwhile, Colliers is courting Enpam regarding the Ippocrate fund
Key points
Asset disposals at prices well below market value or to individuals under scrutiny by the authorities. These transactions relate to two listed property funds: one, Alpha, is still listed; the other, Atlantic 1, has since been closed. It is therefore not only shortcomings regarding compliance with anti-money laundering regulations that have drawn the Bank of Italy’s scrutiny onto the activities of DeA Capital Re Sgr, leading to the resignation of former CEO Emanuele Caniggia, the dissolution of all governance bodies and the appointment of an entirely new board of directors, a board of statutory auditors, and a supervisory chairman in the form of Giancarlo Scotti.
Properties in San Donato
A closer examination of the findings of the inspection at Palazzo Koch reveals that the Supervisory Authority requested, amongst other things, clarification regarding a transaction involving the sale of properties to third parties – which had been completed some time ago – at prices significantly lower than those paid for their purchase several years earlier. These were properties that had been decommissioned but had, for years, generated significant cash flows because they were leased to a major company. This transaction concerns the sale, last September, of the last three assets, located in San Donato Milanese, by Atlantic 1, the property fund created by First Atlantic Real Estate Sgr (prior to its subsequent mergers with Dea Capital) in June 2006 and listed on the MIV segment of Borsa Italiana but definitively closed on 31 October 2025.
The three buildings known as the “former Saipem” buildings – two intended for offices and a third for a staff canteen – were purchased by Mbs following a tender process. Sale price: €22 million, despite the fact that the fund’s valuation firm – Praxi – had previously issued an opinion stating that the offered price was not fair, estimating the market value of the three assets at over €89 million.
Forced sale
In Praxi’s valuation report dated 9 September 2025, the valuer explained that ‘the sum of €22 million received following a competitive procedure aimed at the disposal of the properties cannot be considered appropriate, as the amount offered is lower than the market value and the realisable value’. However, in the document, Praxi provides an explanation: ‘The Atlantic 1 fund, owner of the properties in question, is under absolute necessity to proceed with a forced sale as it is in liquidation with a deadline of 31 October 2025 that cannot be further extended’.
The Board of Directors of DeA Capital Re therefore accepted the binding offer and gave its approval for the sale. The question, however, is this: as the fund’s expiry date had been known for some time, could the sale of the three ‘former Saipem’ buildings not have been organised according to a suitable timetable?
