Hines relaunches Italian activities with hiring of new investment boss

US privately held Hines, which in September exited its Italian JV with the Catella family, has announced the hiring of Mario Abbadessa to relaunch an investment programme in the country.

Abbadessa previously spent five years with Hines’ acquisition team in Milan and as a fund manager with Hines Italia.

Now he will be responsible for sourcing deals for Hines in Italy on behalf of various discretionary and non-discretionary investment vehicles, and also for investors with interest in one-off deals.

He will be based in London, but will spend half of his time in Italy to source deals locally. He will work with London-based fund managers Peter Epping, Paul White and their teams, as well as Hines European leadership, including CEO Michael Topham, CFO Lars Huber and senior managing director Andreas Schreurs.

'Italy has long been, and continues to be, a strategic market for Hines. Mario’s return to the firm allows Hines to continue building on the legacy we have developed in Italy with new opportunities to continue to invest and develop here,' commented Topham.

Huber added, 'Hines is proud of the trust placed in us by our investors. With Mario’s leadership and expertise in Italy, we look forward to finding new opportunities to place their capital in Italy.'

Since entering Italy in 1999, Hines has developed 20 projects, including the landmark mixed-use development Porta Nuova in Milan, which includes 140,000 m2 of office, 125,000 m2 of residential and 40,000 m2 of retail and cultural venues.

Last September the Texas-based asset manager sold its majority interest in the regulated Italian fund management business to Manfredi Catella, who previously served as Hines’ country head for Italy.

Catella plans to list the bulk of the portfolio as a real estate investment trust, with the backing of Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). The unit is being rebranded as Coima Sgr, and will have €5 bn of assets across 13 funds.