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The American capitals are coming to Porta Vittoria. There will be no auction

09 May, Il Giornale

There is a breakthrough for the biggest urban area of Milan. The auction scheduled today to find a buyer for Porta Vittoria, the vast area comprised between Viale Umbria and Viale Molise resulting from the bankruptcy of Danilo Coppola, will not take place. The reason is the entrance of an American investment fund which officially announced to be open to taking over the assets as well as the debts of the developer. The request for agreement among creditors, which substantially cancels the procedure, has been already deposited and it will become operational if it gets the consensus.

The fund York offers enough money to satisfy all the creditors of Coppola (banks, mainly, and suppliers) which are claiming over 320 million. For the insolvency curators, it’s a bargain, if we consider that the first attempt to sell on auction the land and the properties almost completed (a hotel and 150 apartments) was unsuccessful due to the lack of offers and that the destiny of the new auction didn’t look better, offering the whole portfolio at a 20% discount. The participation of York is good news for the residents in the area, as they hope for an intervention on the disused area, as well as for the Municipality of Milan since the American fund is meant to take over also the commitments taken by Coppola, namely the reclamation of the green area and the implementation of a big park and a sports centre.

There are still a few obstacles, starting from the litigation between the old owner, Coppola, and his creditors, especially Banco Bpm. The court sentence that last February condemned Coppola to seven years of imprisonment due to fraudulent bankruptcy also identified the potential responsibilities of the banks (as always argued by the developer) which had first supported the project and then conditioned the results. As a consequence, the court ordered an investigation of the former Banco Bpm Ceo, Pier Francesco Saviotti, and six among lawyer sand advisors. The motivations haven’t been deposited yet, but the District Attorney’s Office has already written some names in the roll of suspects.

The fight between Coppola and the banks also impacts the future of the area: Banco Bpm is endorsing the entrance of the American fund York, while Coppola favours the investment fund Algebris of Davide Serra. It might have been indeed Algebris to have sent the opposition deposited yesterday at the bankruptcy division against the agreement with the American fund.

As we can see, the situation is very complicated. But at least something now seems to be moving for Porta Vittoria, which seemed a mess without a solution for a long time. However, someone might wonder why financial companies entirely lead the competition, while the Milan developers – from Manfredi Catella to Davide Bizzi – keep clear from such apparently attracting area.

Source: Il Giornale

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi