CEO takes over Hines Italia, prepares QIA-backed REIT

Hines Italia Sgr, the joint venture between the Italian Catella family and US developer-investor Hines, has been taken over by its CEO Manfredi Catella. The bulk of the group's portfolio is to be listed as a real estate investment trust, with the backing of Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).

Catella, who co-founded Hines Italia Sgr and owned 28.87%, is taking a majority interest in the business. It is being rebranded as Coima Sgr, in line with the his family's real estate services business, Coima.

Following the acquisition Catella will own 92% of the business with Micheli e Associati, Manfredi Catella's long-time business partner, retaining his 8% stake.

Coima Sgr, with €5 bn of assets across 13 funds, is planning to spin off its income-generating assets into a new unit, known as Coima Res that will be listed on Milan stock exchange.

Qatari partner
Qatari sovereign wealth fund QIA has agreed to take a stake in the listed company, which would be the third such tax-efficient REIT structure in the country, alongside Beni Stabili and IGD. Earlier this year QIA finalised its two-part acquisition of the Porta Nuova mixed-use scheme in central Milan from Hines Italia for €2 bn.

'We believe that an entrepreneurial project in the Italian real estate sector will contribute to our country's economic development, benefiting from Italy's positive trend in Europe, which is favoured by the Government's ongoing reforms,' said Manfredi Catella.

'This operation allows Coima and Coima Sgr to present itself on the market as an independent Platform amongst the most important in Italy's real estate Sector,' the company added in a statement.

Coima
Coima, focused on development and property management, and Coima Sgr, focused on asset management, will altogether have 100 staff. The two companies will relocate to a new, single office near the Unicredit Pavillion in Milan's Porta Nuova, the group's largest development project.

Coima Sgr in particular manages 13 funds on behalf of around 40 institutional investors for a total of over €5 bn of assets. The company will focus on investing in income-generating assets, development and redevelopment projects as well as asset management for third parties.

Citi and Mediobanca are acting as global coordinators on the listing. CBRE and PwC will carry out the valuation of the portfolio.