AnaCap, a market-leading private equity investor specialised in partnering with founders and entrepreneurial management teams, across services, technology and software within the European financial ecosystem, today announces that it has signed an agreement for the acquisition of a majority stake in Yard Reaas, a leading independent platform providing investment, property management and valuation services for institutional investors and banks.

Headquartered in Milan and with offices in Rome, Paris and London, Yard Reaas has more than 30 years of experience, providing end-to-end investment services and property management solutions to a diversified customer base composed of local and international institutional investors and banks. Over the past three years it has monitored investments worth €1.5 billion, performed assets valuations in excess of €30 billion as well as managing a real estate portfolio worth over €13 billion on behalf of first-class institutions.

Yard Reaas is led by CEO Emanuele Bellani, alongside a highly entrepreneurial founding management team formed by Paolo Datti and Paolo Perrella, which will continue to drive growth for the platform under AnaCap ownership in Italy and internationally.

The company is well positioned as a leading platform for investors and financial institutions with a successful inorganic strategy track record of six acquisitions (including the recently announced Tecnit@lia acquisition in January 2024). Yard Reaas is particularly attractive to businesses looking for a prospective partner which can provide high-quality services for both prime and distressed assets across all asset classes, as well as those with an ESG focus.

This transaction will enable the Yard Reaas leadership team to significantly accelerate its international expansion strategy in Southern Europe as it seeks to execute a strong pipeline of acquisitions, in pursuit of becoming a leading consolidation platform in its sector across Italy, Spain and France respectively.

AnaCap’s extensive track record in technology investment will help accelerate Yard Reaas ambitious plan to become the leading tech-enabled service provider for its market. This will include the advanced use of technology, data, and analytics to offer a vast range of innovative solutions to clients such as Automated Valuation Models (“AVM”) and automated ESG ratings that align with the recent European ‘Green Homes’ directive, as well as optimising its internal processes.

Buyside advice was provided by Vitale & Co and Allen & Overy. Closing of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.

Alberto Sainaghi, Managing Director at AnaCap, commented:

“We are thrilled to partner with Emanuele and the Yard Reaas leadership team as we seek to build upon their impressive achievements in recent years and their excellent market reputation. Moving forward, AnaCap’s vision is for Yard Reaas to become the leading tech-enabled provider in Southern Europe for the sector, serving customers across multiple geographies and asset classes.”

Nassim Cherchali, Co-Managing Partner at AnaCap, added:

“AnaCap continue to find attractive opportunities in core European markets through a deep understanding of local markets, sector specialism and lower mid-market focus. AnaCap’s acquisition of Yard Reaas is another example of how we partner with founders and ambitious management teams to support and accelerate their growth ambitions. We look forward to working closely with all the team at Yard Reaas and are excited for them to join the AnaCap platform.”

Emanuele Bellani, CEO at Yard Reaas, concluded:

“It became clear to us very quickly that AnaCap would be a perfect partner as we target significant growth in scale and offering of services. Their vast experience in executing build-up strategies, their deep understanding of tech-enabled business growth and their DNA in supporting highly entrepreneurial management teams will help us immeasurably in achieving our ambitious goal: consolidating our leadership in Italy, as well as expanding our geographical presence in other countries via strategic acquisitions using technology as the key differentiating aspect in the market.”