Italy’s Pirelli Real Estate and Deutsche Bank’s property fund management arm RREEF have confirmed that they are in negotiations to do one of Europe’s biggest ever deals.

As revealed on propertyweek.com on 27.11.07, the pair is the preferred bidder for a €4.5bn (£3.2bn) portfolio of assets from German retail and leisure group Arcandor and Goldman Sachs Whitehall Fund.

The portfolio being sold includes 85 department stores and a stake in Arcandor, formerly known as KarstadtQuelle, of between 20%-30%.

In a statement, Pirelli said: ‘Pirelli RE confirms that negotiations are currently underway, together with RREEF, with the German company. Any agreement has yet to be reached, and no economic terms and conditions have been defined yet.’