Friday Letter Fighting it out

Last month, a private equity real estate bidding war broke out in a very unlikely place: Italy, where a clutch of investors faced off in a competition for two publicly listed real estate funds. According to industry observers, it was the first time in quite a while, if ever, that a competitive bid situation developed for Italian real estate assets. The two funds, Tecla Fondo Uffici and Berenice Fondo Uffici, have a combined enterprise value of approximately €1.6 billion.