The real estate portfolio that comes with the deal comprises 71 properties, covering a total area of 309,000 sm. Just more than 90% of the assets are located in the region of Lombardy, northern Italy, and of this more than 70% are in central Milan. It produces an annual rental income of around euro 24 million ($30.41 million). Nearly a third of the property is vacant.

Beni Stabili says the commercial assets are under-rented and offer substantial scope for active management. The company is seeking an eventual 5.3% return on the deal. Beni Stabili intends to sell the portfolio's housing and plans to build its property portfolio to a value of more than euro 4 billion ($5 billion) by 2008.

A Beni Stabili statement adds it had carried out the acquisition through its wholly owned subsidiary BS Immobiliare. Beni Stabili funded the acquisition of Comit's real estate assets through a euro 725-million ($921-million) loan provided by a pool of banks with Italian banking group SanPaolo IMI as lead arranger, Banca Imi as mandated lead arranger and Banca Antonveneta as joint mandated arranger. The remaining financial resources were provided via Beni Stabili liquidity assets.