Hines Italia Sgr, the investment management platform controlled by Houston-based developer Hines and Manfredi Catella, said on Friday that it has received over €3 bn of debt offers for its Porta Nuova Garibaldi development fund.

Hines Italia Sgr, the investment management platform controlled by Houston-based developer Hines and Manfredi Catella, said on Friday that it has received over €3 bn of debt offers for its Porta Nuova Garibaldi development fund.

As such, the €450 mln auction for the refinancing of the Garibaldi section of Porta Nuova was seven times oversubscribed, confirming the appeal of the Porta Nuova site to long-term institutional investors, according to the Italian asset manager.

A total of 17 major banking institutions worldwide tabled a bid, offering what Hines Italia described as 'some of the most competitive terms and conditions on the Italian market over the last five years'. The company is due to pick the winning pool of banks soon, it added.

Porta Nuova is a mixed-use development in downtown Milan combining offices, retail and residential. It provides a total of 254,000 m2 of space across three sections, Varesine, Isola and Garibaldi, located near Milan's central station.

The Garibaldi section is home to the 30-storey Garibaldi Tower, officially the tallest building in Italy, designed by Cesar Pelli. The skyscraper provides over 60,000 m2 and is 100% leased to Unicredit Bank.

'The availability of funding from major banks and highly reputable international investors such as (Qatari investor, ed.) QIA confirms the appeal of the Porta Nuova project, of Milan and of Italy in general thanks to greater political stability which is crucial for the future of the industry,' commented Manfredi Catella, CEO of Hines Italia SGR. 'The benefit of having QIA as one of our leading investors and key partner has truly shown itself in the refinancing process that we have been conducting.'

Hines Italia SGR, with assets under management of €3 bn, is being advised by Mediobanca, Banca Imi and GreenOak, as well as by law firm Chiomenti for legal issues, Gianni Origoni Grippo Cappelli e Partners for regulatory aspects, Maisto’s professionals for tax aspects and CBRE for technical issues.

Qatar Holding, a unit of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, has the relative majority in the project after having acquired a 40% stake last year in a deal valuing the entire site at €2 bn.

In the past months, Porta Nuova has achieved the prime rent record in Milan for the lease of office and commercial buildings – exceeding €500 per m2. That figure represents a 60% premium compared to office buildings in the area and exceeds the prime rent in the historic centre which is lower than €500 per m2.

As for the residential buildings, prices at Porta Nuova have reached an average sales price of €9,500 per m2, corresponding to a premium of 80% compared with average prices for the local residential market. The record price achieved in Porta Nuova was €20,000 per m2. Currently, around 60% of the 370 apartments distributed over 13 buildings have been sold.