Italian asset manager Coima is gearing up to raise an additional €200 mln of fresh equity in the second closing for its Coima Logistics Fund I, PropertyEU can reveal.
The vehicle, which has already deployed the capital raised at first closing, is ultimately targeting an equity size of €500 mln, according to CEO Manfredi Catella.
‘We are in the process of initial review with primary cornerstone partners ,’ says Catella of Coima Sgr, a Milan-based independent investor, developer and asset manager with over €5 bn of assets across 22 funds. ‘We are targeting a €1 bn logistics portfolio (gross asset value) over the next five years. Logistics is an asset class which is very much on investors’ radar right now,’ he adds.
The fund currently owns over €100 mln of logistics assets including an Amazon distribution centre near the northern Italian city of Piacenza and a Net A Porter logistic centre in Bologna.
Coima is expanding to diversify beyond its traditional office focus with investments in a number of sectors including logistics, residential and hospitality, adds Catella.
‘We believe that the demand for physical space is changing everywhere in the world, driven by a number of economic, demographic, technological and social macro trends. This is true for every asset class, and it is important to focus on strategies anchored to real economy fundamentals targeting next generation products that can match an evolving demand.’
In logistics, this means the company will focus on e-commerce facilities and last-mile assets with a value-creation investment strategy including development projects and build-to-core initiatives.
Catella sees residential as another interesting asset class where the group plans to grow further in the future.
‘We have developed over 500 high-end apartments in the past and we are now considering to expand into more rental and co-living type of portfolios. In Italy there is however more interest in the sector from international investors than from local institutional players which have historically been overweight in the sector and are less keen in the short term on taking further exposure despite the sector being increasingly attractive.’
Coima raised over €2 bn of equity over the past three years including €650 mln of capital for its second Opportunity Fund in the largest discretionary real estate investment fund ever closed in the country.
The development fund has so far deployed around 40% of its investment capacity, and is currently evaluating a pipeline of opportunities of over €1 bn.
This article first appeared in EuroProperty, the weekly publication of PropertyEU.
