(Visited 147 times, 1 visits today)
(Visited 147 times, 1 visits today)

The Coima challenge: redoing the Milan skyline with international capitals

01 April, Economy

It took 18 months, but instead of raising 500 million euro, they raised 650. The first 150 came in October 2016 from an “important sovereign fund”. Then came other two cornerstones, a second sovereign fund and a “primary international investor”, each with 150 million-euro tranches, and a bunch of institutional investors mainly from Asia and North America. We don’t know the names and how much they put, it’s all protected by a non-disclosure agreement. What is certain is that the closing of the fund Coima Opportunity Fund II (COF II) is the icing on cake for the tenth anniversary of the asset management company of Manfredi Catella, which was celebrated in the environmentally sustainable headquarters in Piazza Gae Aulenti 12, designed by Studio Mario Cucinella Architects (while the interiors were designed by Coima Image of Alida Catella).

COF II is the biggest Italian real estate investment fund ever raised in Italy: 650 million and an investment capacity of one billion and a half. However, Manfredi Catella assures, “dimensions are not the primary objective of our strategy, rather they’re the consequence: the better we work, the more trust we get from investors”. These have appointed Coima for all the critical decisions regarding the capital: “When you’re an asset manager, the confirmation of your good work comes when investors give you the capital and delegate to you all the investment decisions”.

With 21 real estate funds, over 5 billion of assets under management and 150 properties, after having redesigned the Milan skyline developing together with Hines Italia the new neighbourhood of Porta Nuova, Coima Sgr is back. In fact, the fund has already made acquisitions for one-third of its capacity, obtaining the area between Melchiorre Gioia, Pirelli and Sassetti, namely a surface over 32 thousand Sq m paid approximately 79 million. In addition, the fund bought through a joint venture with Coima Res (36%) the former Unilever tower in Via Bonnet, always in Milan. The fund follows the same strategy as COIMA Opportunity Fund I, with expected net returns over 12%, consisting of requalification operations of already existing buildings, the so-called value-added operations. As stressed by Catella, “the cost for the requalification must not exceed 15% of the purchase price”. There are also development operations to fill the gap between demand and supply, especially for what concerns services: “There are operations for over one billion in the pipeline. For this reason, we want investors willing to be also partners, with a higher investment capacity than the one dedicated to the fund. This is an important milestone for us, but also for the country. Italy is at the centre of the attention of international investors right now”.

To the point that 5% of the most important global sovereign funds are Coima partners: of the 2 billion raised in the last three years, 53% came from such investors. It’s not possible to know the countries these capitals come from. The only exception is Abu Dhabi, that appointed Coima Sgr for the construction of Torre Gioia 22, and the Qatar Investment Authority that has acquired from Coima and partners (Unipol, Hines, the retirement fund Ttiaa-Cref) 60% of the interests in Porta Nuova, owning already the 40%. For which amount, it hasn’t been disclosed so far. But it’s rumoured that the sellers earned a good 30% from the operation.

Source: Economy

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi