Coima to invest €1.5bn in Italy after major investors back real estate fund

COIMA SGR plans to invest €1.5bn in Italian real estate after major institutional investors committed to its second opportunity fund.

The Italian fund manager said Coima Opportunity Fund II was the largest discretionary real estate fund in the country after cornerstone investors each committed $150m.

Institutional investors provided 90% of the €500m of equity, which could rise to $650m once co-investment capital and further subscriptions are factored in. Financial leverage will more than double its investment capacity.

Coima SGR did not disclose the identity of the investors, but said its listed real estate vehicle, Coima RES, will be able to co-invest in the fund.

Large international investors, including those from Asia and North America, represented more than 90% of the fund, it said, with the rest of the capital being provided by “the principal Italian institutional investors” and Coima SGR.

In October 2016, IPE Real Assets reported that Coima SGR had attracted €150m from an unnamed sovereign wealth fund.

Coima SGR said 30% of the fund’s investment capacity had already been allocated and it had a pipeline of more than €1bn of investments.

The fund’s current investments include two sites it acquired in Milan’s Porta Nuova district, with a combined total area of more than 100,000sqm.

Manfredi Catella, founder and CEO of COIMA SGR, said: “The Italian territory represents a strategic natural resource and one of the competitive factors in a policy of economic development.

“Our commitment, together with our institutional partners, is to contribute investments that can foster sustainable development with an additional positive impact on the economy and on local communities.

“With this fund, the largest in Italy, we have created an important vehicle which, through a fruitful and constructive collaboration with strategic partners, operators, banks, insurance companies, institutions and bodies, will be able to promote projects of heritage innovation through the real estate of Italian cities.”

Coima SGR said its first opportunity fund had generated a return of 12%.

The company has started a classification process for the fund’s ESG performance using the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB), which it said would be formalised next year.