Canada’s Ivanhoé Cambridge and European real estate boutique ICAMAP have launched a ‘new generation’ low-carbon office investment vehicle for the Greater Paris region.
Named Icawood, the venture has €750 mln of equity to deploy, with Ivanhoé Cambridge being the cornerstone investor. With leverage, it has an overall investment capacity of €1.6 bn.
This level of funding means Icawood should be able to develop between 200,000 to 300,000 m2 of offices by 2028, the two parties said.
It will implement building technologies developed by WO2, a subsidiary of Woodeum Group, which according to a statement significantly reduces construction carbon footprint and ‘nuisances’.
Ivanhoé Cambridge is the real estate subsidiary of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. It stated there were another 12 institutional and family office investors in the fund, though their identities have not been disclosed. Ivanhoé Cambridge chairs the investors’ advisory committee.
Karim Habra, head of Europe, Ivanhoé Cambridge, said: ‘This fund reinforces our well-established capacity to invest in high-value-creation development projects in Europe’s large cities, and more specifically in the Greater Paris region, a strategic market for us.’
Guillaume Poitrinal, chairman of ICAMAP, and Philippe Zivkovic, chairman of WO2, both of whom are personal investors in the fund, said, ‘We are very honoured that Ivanhoé Cambridge and the fund investors have chosen ICAMAP and WO2 to develop low-carbon office projects in the Paris region. The partnership will foster the development of large low-carbon real estate complexes, which the dynamic companies in the Greater Paris region are actively seeking.’
ICAMAP is an investment fund management company specialized in real estate that was founded in 2013 and headed by its founding partners, Poitrinal, Harm Meijer and Alexandre Aquien. It manages €1.25 bn of in equity for 21 institutional or family office investors. It is not only manager of the new ICAWOOD vehicle but also Icamap Investors, a €500 mln fund investing in ownership stakes of small- and mid-cap private or publicly traded European real estate companies. The ICAMAP and ICAMAP advisory teams are based in Paris, London and Luxemburg.
WO2 has nearly 2,000 residential units in its portfolio along with 150,000 m2 of office space and two hotels. In addition to its development activities, WO2 is assisting the Tour Montparnasse co-owners with the restructuring of the 120,000 m2 high-rise tower in the heart of Paris.
