One billion to Italy from Dutch pensioners

01 December, Il Sole 24 Ore

The latest international investors are the Dutch pensioners to aim at Italian real estate.

The American giant Hines has concluded an agreement with Pggm, one of the main Dutch retirement funds with 206 billion managed assets, to constitute a property fund, Milan Green Fund, that will invest one billion euro in the Italian market. The fund, aiming at an average income of 4-5%, starts with a quotation of 155 million euro and it will develop buildings for mixed-purpose, offices and high street spaces. The objective is to invest in already existing, iconic, buildings to renovate in an energy-sustainable way.

The destination of the investments are the main Italian cities, but Milan will be the main highlight. Here, 1.9-billion-euro international capitals have landed since the beginning of 2017 (on a total of three billion), while on the whole territory the international investors have invested 5.9 billion (8.3 billion are the volumes since January 2017).

Hence, the fund has concluded its first operation in the city centre, in the old town, buying for 110 million euro three properties – 20 thousand Sq m altogether – from Banco Bpm. To the numbers of the deal, we must add 30 million for the total renovation of the buildings that will be reconverted for business and retail purposes. The assets of the portfolio are the ten-storey tower in Liberty Square, facing the Apple Store opening soon, a building in Via Lauro – opposite to the future W Hotel – and one in Via Mazzini. The requalification projects of the nearby areas might start from these properties. Hines, assisted by Vitale & Co estate as the financial advisor, might already be studying the possibility to relaunch the De Cristoforis Gallery and to renovate Via Mazzini, working together with the property owners of the area.

Hines, guided by Mario Abbadessa, the Italy Country Manager, has accumulated over the last two years in the country a portfolio for a value of one billion divided between nine investments in total, betting on the potential of Milan. In fact, among the most important operations, there is the one concerning the building in Piazza Cordusio, where, in spring 2019, the fast-fashion brand Uniqlo will open its store, as well as the acquisition of the former Luxottica headquarters in Via Cantù, a few kilometres from Piazza Cordusio. At the end of 2016, Hines acquired for 22 million euro the former offices of Banca di Roma in Piazza Edison. Always in Milan, the company bought the building accommodating the London Stock Exchange, as well as the Dla Piper offices.

The group founded by Gerald Hines manages real estate assets for 93.2 billion dollars and it’s present in 192 cities of 20 different countries. Hines has currently a portfolio of 483 properties worldwide on a total surface of 199 million Sq m.

By the end of the year, the American group might close in Italy also some operations in the student housing segment, the next frontier of real estate.

Source: Il Sole 24 Ore

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

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