Germany's BF.capital targets Italy expansion in private debt
Germany's BF.capital targets Italy expansion in private debt MILAN, June 24 (Reuters) - Germany's BF.capital, an investment manager specialising in private debt, has applied to Italian authorities to start offering alternative investment products to pension funds and insurers in the country.
The group plans to advise clients on private debt investments and channel money from Italian institutional investors into Germany's property debt market.
Germany's property prices are bottoming out, said Francesco Fedele, founder and CEO of Stuttgart-based BF.direkt, which owns BF.capital.
Higher interest rates have driven a sharp correction in Germany's real estate prices, which peaked in 2022 after a decade-long rise.
Fedele said BF.capital was awaiting the necessary regulatory clearance to start operating in Italy and expected the process to conclude in a matter of weeks.
BF.capital counts W&W Asset Management, part of German insurer Wüstenrot & Württembergische, among its leading shareholders after it bought a 35% stake in 2023.
BF.capital CEO Eugenio Sangermano said one of group's goal in the Italian market push was to raise in the country around a third of a planned €250 million fund that would invest in real estate debt in Europe.
(Reporting by Valentina Za, editing by Alvise Armellini)
((valentina.za@thomsonreuters.com; +39 02 6612 9526;))