Italian fund manager Coima SGR has secured a €900 mln loan facility for Qatar Investment Authority's Porta Nuova, the largest urban renewal project in a European historical centre.
The 5-year facility is being provided by a syndicate consisting of Italian banks, UniCredit, Intesa SanPaolo, Banca Popolare di Milano and Mediobanca, as well as France's BNP Paribas.
Coima SGR was assisted in the transaction by Mediobanca as financial advisor, Studio Chiomenti as contractual advisor, and Studio Maisto as tax advisor.
A new CBD
The leverage of the Porta Nuova project after the development phase has now stabilised at about 50%.
Porta Nuova, which bills itself as a new CBD in Milan, was created by consolidating the neighbourhoods of Garibaldi, Varesine and Isola. It now comprises 20 LEED GOLD-certified buildings and has seen rents rise by more than 30% since the start of the marketing process in 2012. Compared with the rents in the area before the completion of the project, the increase amounts to over 70%.
The Porta Nuova project accounted for nearly 15% of the overall office space take-up in Milan over the last four years. The tenants range from financial, IT, fashion, insurance and consulting companies, and include UniCredit, BNP Paribas, Bank of New York Mellon, HSBC Bank, Nike, Google, and Samsung Electronics Italia.
Manfredi Catella, founder & CEO of Coima SGR, commented: 'Porta Nuova once again proves to be one of the most important renewal projects in Europe. It has continued growing steadily over the last 5 years and represents one of the most attractive lending opportunities for the banking sector.'
Coima
Coima SGR is part of the Catella family's Coima real estate development and investment group which developed the 140,000 m2 Porta Nuova on a former rail yard, in joint venture with Hines Italia. Qatar's sovereign wealth fund QIA completed a two-stage transaction, valued at €2 bn, in 2015 to take full ownership of the scheme.
Coima group, supported by QIA, bought Hines out of their development joint venture and both Coima and Hines continue to develop real estate independently in the Italian market. Coima SGR manages three funds that invest in Porta Nuova on behalf of QIA.
QIA and Coima are involved in a number ventures together, including acquiring the headquarters of Credit Suisse, the renovation of the building in piazza San Fedele (the former BNP headquarters) in Milan, and the partnership backing the Italian publicly listed real estate investment trust or SIIQ, Coima RES.
In the last 12 months, Coima group has raised nearly €1 bn from about 40 Italian and 60 international institutional investors. The group has also finalised nearly €1.1 bn of acquisitions, secured €2 bn of credit facilities and expanded its team of professionals by 25%, from 115 to 150.
