The Bellinis, a wealthy Montreal family whose fortune stems from pioneering HIV/AIDS treatment, are making notable moves in the Manhattan commercial real estate sector. Family patriarch Francesco Bellini sold BioChem Pharma to UK-based Shire Pharmaceuticals in 2001 for $5.9B, with his personal stake reported to be worth more than $250m. Francesco has two sons: Roberto, who manages the family's biotech interests, and Carlo, who oversees real estate investments and other businesses, including a winery.
Carlo Bellini's real estate firm, 99c LLC, has recently purchased two prominent properties in New York. It bought 180 Maiden Lane for $297 million in early July. The 41-story, 1.2 million square feet office tower in the Financial District was acquired in a short sale. A short sale occurs when a property is sold for less than the amount owed on the mortgage, typically with lender approval. Current occupancy rate is 68%. The glass tower had previously gone for $470m, in 2015. Bellini's plan is to "reinvent such spaces in unique and sustainable ways." In October 2022, 99c acquired the former AIG headquarters at 175 Water Street in Lower Manhattan for $252 million. That's a 31-story office tower.
Carlo Bellini partnered with Dawson Stellberger, co-founder of Bushwack Capital on the Maiden Lane acquisition. Secretive Cayman island based billionaire vulture investor Kenneth Dart was also part of the buying group initially, but he later withdrew. The Bellinis had partnered with Dart on some of its previous real estate investments. Dart is notorious for his "vulture fund" investing tactics, where he buys distressed government debt at low prices and profits from its eventual restructuring. He is also a major recent investor in the tobacco industry with large stakes in British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands.
The Bellinis had a second major liquidity event in 2023, selling BELLUS Health (formerly Neurochem) to GSK for $2 billion. That was actually not such a big ROI, because of all the money raised over two+ decades. They had partnered with the billionaire Desmarais on that and other biotech ventures. Francesco Bellini and Paul Desmarais Jr. are known to hunt pheasants together on Île Province, a sanctuary they jointly own in Lake Memphrémagog. Since the sale of Bellus, son Roberto Bellini is managing director of family investment firm Bsquared Capital. Not to be outdone, I recently bought some Dream Unlimited and Canadian Net REIT. I think it’s a good space to be in.