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Fonciere des Murs (FDM), the leisure and healthcare subsidiary of French property group Fonciere des Regions, has established a new company to expand in the Italian hotel sector.

The new entity, Fonciere des Murs Italy, has already acquired two hotels for EUR 20 mln. The properties are operated by Holiday Inn and FDM Italy has established a partnership with the Metha group to manage the sites.

In 2007, FDM invested around EUR 804 mln in France, Belgium, Italy and Portugal. Deals in the leisure sector with Pierre & Vacances (Belgium), Club Mediterranee (Portugal) and Jardiland (France) came to a combined investment volume of EUR 397 mln. The Paris-listed real estate investment trust, or SIIC in French, also acquired a portfolio of Quick restaurants for EUR 311 mln, and completed EUR 54 mln worth of deals in the healthcare property sector.

At the end of 2007, the French company's portfolio was valued at EUR 3.2 bn, an increase of EUR 1.02 bn on 2006 figure. The properties generated a combined annual rent of EUR 196 mln. Hotels makes up 60% of the company business, while nursing homes and clinics account for 14%, restaurants for 13% and the share of leisure properties is another 13%. The portfolio is split between the Ile-de-France region (36%), the rest of France (54%) and the remaining 10% in Belgium, Italy and Portugal.

FDM secured EUR 1.8 bn of financing from July to September 2007, mostly to fund further acquisitions.

Fonciere des Regions is the majority stakeholder in Italian property company Beni Stabili. Last November, Beni Stabili Hotel acquired six hotels in a transaction worth EUR 128 mln. The hotels - one in Rome, one in Turin and two each in Milan and Florence - are managed by the Metha group and operated under the Holiday Inn banner.