Retail Real Estate

Generali RE and Percassi ready to acquire the Orio Center in Bergamo

Negotiations with Commerz Real, for EUR 450 million, are reportedly at an advanced stage for the commercial area near the city's airport (one of the busiest in Italy). Real estate investments in retail doubled (over one billion) in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year

25 July 2025

2' min read

Generali Real Estate and the Percassi Group are reportedly in advanced negotiations with Commerz Real (the seller) to acquire the Orio Center, the shopping centre overlooking Bergamo airport, with an equal investment in a regulated real estate fund, in a deal that values the shopping centre at around EUR 450 million.

This is anticipated by Green Street News and confirmed by rumours. While the parties do not comment.

Generali would acquire its stake on behalf of the Pan-European Generali Shopping Centers Fund (Gscf), while the Percassi Group has been the asset and property manager of Orio Center since its opening in 1998. In terms of surface area and breadth of offer, Orio Center is the largest shopping centre in Italy and one of the largest in Europe. Located close to Italy's third busiest airport, Orio Center covers approximately 105,000 square metres of gross leasable area.

But it is not just a mall. In all, the complex includes an Iper hypermarket, a 14-screen multiplex and one of the largest Imax cinemas in Europe, as well as a parking area with more than 7,000 spaces.

The property was built in 1998, developed by the Percassi Group, and was expanded with an additional 35,000 sqm of food and retail space in 2017. The total investment in the property exceeds EUR 400 million, which Commerz Real will collect from Generali and Percassi with shares still unknown.

The deal is part of a renewed interest in the retail asset class over the past year. Earlier this summer, Hines agreed to sell Uniqlo's flagship store in Milan to Japan's richest man, Tadashi Yanai, for over €300m.

According to Jll, retail investments reached approximately EUR 1.1 billion in the first half of this year. Volumes more than doubled compared to the same period in 2024, with net prime yields stable at 6.50 per cent for shopping centres, which still remunerate the perception of higher risk compared to other asset classes, resulting from a (hitherto) less liquid market. In the shopping centre segment, the acquisition by Farallon Capital Management and the local joint venture partner Reve of Centro Sicilia (for about EUR 180 million), the largest shopping centre on the island, with Pimco and GWM, stands out. At the beginning of the summer, on the other hand, Hines sold to Japan's richest man, Tadashi Yanai, for more than EUR 300 million, the building in Piazza Cordusio, Milan, leased to the Uniqlo flagship store.