Italian listed RE funds attractive for foreigners - BNPP'S Cibrario

Italian listed real estate funds offer foreign investors significant opportunities from tax, governance, legal and supervision aspects, but few non-domestic institutions are yet allocating capital to them, Michele Cibrario, Managing Director of BNP Paribas Real Estate Investment Management, told PIE at MIPIM. "The Italian real estate law for funds is, in my view, the best in Europe. It is totally transparent. From a fiscal point of view a foreign investor does not pay tax at source, no tax on the fund and none on revenue payouts, but only in their country. In addition, we are supervised as an asset manager by the central bank and the CONSOB stock exchange authority, and are also free to use our funds for investment and development activities in Italy or abroad - provided of course we have specified this in the fund mandate."