Press Reviews

Germany's IVG Immobilien is joining forces with Italian REIT Beni Stabili to launch a joint fund management plaform which will promote and manage fund products for Italian institutional investors from an office in Milan. Steffen Ricken, which heads IVG Institutional Fund business, says the move reflects the company's strategy to further expand its international investment and investor platform following the acquisition last year of Hypo Real Invest in Austria.
"As part of a recent restructuring and repositioning of IVG we have been targeting a... [MORE]

Italy took the lion's share of real estate investment in southern Europe last year with over EUR 4 bn of transactions compared with just EUR 800 mln at the height of the crisis in 2010, according to PropertyEU Research.
Despite the sharp surge in 2011 activity, the Italian market stalled again in the first quarter of this year when just EUR 460 mln of investment was recorded. Economic uncertainty, rising interest rates, and decreasing availability of product contributed to make the past three months the second-lowest quarterly volume in 10 years.
With the eurozone crisis continuning to... [MORE]

Erik Nielsen, Financial Times - You would be forgiven for thinking that something has suddenly gone awfully wrong in Italy. Last week it was downgraded by both Moody’s and Fitch. Moody’s cut, by a hefty three notches to A plus, was its first downgrade of Italy in 18 years. The move came just a couple of weeks after the approval of the biggest fiscal adjustment of any leading country in decades. Then again, markets had already taken absence from fundamentals, driving Italian sovereign funding costs above 5 per cent – so the rating agencies, following tradition, adjusted their rating regardless of economic fundamentals. But sometimes the market gets it all wrong... [MORE]

Italian developer Gruppo Vitali has formally handed over its 'green' Innovation Campus development in Peschiera Borromeo, south of Milan to tenant Microsoft Corporation. The scheme - representing the first Leed-certified business park in Italy - will house the new Italian headquarters of the PC software giant, confirming international companies' taste for sustainable buildings.
Designed by Barcelona-based architects Flores & Prats, the complex involves an investment of some EUR 150 mln and features around 60,000 m2 of business accommodation, 40,000 m2 of parking facilities, and 50,000 m2 of services, restaurant and conference facilities, an auditorium, fitness centre, and a nursery.
'We are... [MORE]

Expo Italia Real Estate (EIRE) 2011 is strengthening its partnership with the public sector as it widens the range of conferences and events promoted by municipalities and regional development agencies. 
'In order to support our role as promoter of the development of an Italian real estate community, EIRE has set the growth of its relation with the public institutions as one of its priorities,' EIRE's director Antonio Intiglietta told PropertyEU.
This year's programme includes a conference on "Extracting value from state-owned real estate portfolios" as well... [MORE]

Corio has signed the preliminary agreement for the acquisition of the Palazzo del Lavoro project in the city of Turin, Italy from Pentagramma Piemonte S.p.A. The acquisition concerns an existing monumental building and the adjacent land that will be refurbished and redeveloped into a shopping center with a total GLA of 28,000 m². The Palazzo del Lavoro shopping center is expected to open in 2014. The project fits very well with Corio’s strategy and its aim to create Favorite Meeting Places. In addition, it offers an opportunity to redevelop a property that is an urban historic m... [MORE]

UniCredit SpA, Italy’s biggest bank, set out guidelines on Tuesday for its business plan with a focus on central and eastern Europe and on increased efficiency. The guidelines are a first indication by Chief Executive Federico Ghizzoni, who took over in September, of where he wants to lead UniCredit. The plan will be presented to investors by next summer. The lender was the Italian bank most battered by the financial crisis because of its exposure outside the stable domestic market. UniCredit also has suffered from lagging returns and relatively high cost of risk. ... [MORE]

The extension-renovation of the Pescara Nord shopping center was inaugurated yesterday (December 1, 2010) after one year of work. This completed project marks the opening of a new era for the center.

A leading retail hub for the Abruzzo region
With a catchment area of more than 400,000 inhabitants and a prime location near the A14 freeway, Pescara Nord has become over the years the key shopping center in the Abruzzo region. For its 15th anniversary, the shopping center’s existing mall was extended by an additio... [MORE]

Expo Italia (EIRE) is emphasising real estate opportunities in the Mediterranean region for its 2010 edition. EIRE's director Antonio Intiglietta told PropertyEU that the fair has gained a large following among Italy's major players, and is seeking to widen its focus to the leading institutions and private investors of the Mediterranean. 'We have carried out two important missions in Montenegro and Turkey, which led to the successful expansion of our exhibitor basis in those countries,' said Intiglietta. The three-day EIRE event, which runs from 8 to 10 June under the curving roof of Massimiliano Fuksas' trade fair in Milan, is expected to attract exhibitors from over 50 countries and nearly 20,000 visitors... [MORE]

Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing has hired Olivier de Poulpiquet as head of its European business, seven years after he left the investment bank for Italy’s Pirelli Real Estate
Jonathan Brasse
Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing, the real estate investment management division of Morgan Stanley, has named Olivier de Poulpiquet as European head of the platform. New of the appoitment, to come into effect after 1 May, was circulated via an internal annoucement. The appointment effectively sees de Poulpiquet take on the same role he held when he left the bank to join Italian firm Pirelli Real Estate as chief investment officer responsible for investment and fund raising activities in 2003... [MORE]

Italian commercial property delivered a 1.5% total return over the second half of last year, which contributed to an annual 2.5% return, according to the IPD Italian Bi-Annual Property Index. The second half of the year represents a 40 basis points improvement over the first six months. The annual return is comprised of a -2.8% capital depreciation and a 5.4% income return. Capital depreciation eased over the second half of 2009, by 40 bps to -1.2, while income returns remained stable at 2.7%. The IPD Italy Biannual Property Index - which includes 20 institutional portfolios with... [MORE]

Erick van Egeraat has received the second prize of the ‘US Award 2009 – Workplace: Quality and Innovation’ in the category ‘Architecture’ for the office buildings in the Milanofiori North mixed-use development in Milan, Italy. The award ceremony was held last week at the headquarters of ll Sole 24 Ore in Milan, the main financial media in Italy.

Milanofiori North is a mixed-use proect in Milan, honoured for the quality of the masterplan and the architectural-functional-ecological mix. Erick van Egeraat’s design for the Milanofiori Business Park was chosen from more than 100 international entries. Erick van Egeraat’s project was honoured for the quality... [MORE]

By the end of next year, the Percassi Group expects to have a network of more than 300 shops, 50 of which operated in joint venture agreements with the Benetton Group and others in association with Flavio Briatore, with whom the Percassi Group signed an agreement for development of the Billionaire Italian Couture brand and 100 with the proprietary brand Kiko Make Up Milano, a successful line of innovative cosmetics that has gone on to expand into the international market.
Premium Retail was founded in 2008 by Stefano Stroppiana with the participation of the Percassi Group, which handles the design, development, commercialization and operation of large luxury retail property projects.
Premium Re... [MORE]

A Milan court meets on Oct. 15 to decide whether real estate group Risanamento SpA will be declared bankrupt as it grapples with 2.9 billion euros ($4.3 billion) of debt.

If the court does not declare bankruptcy there is an alternative 500 million restructuring plan agreed by banks — but it must win approval by at least 60 percent of creditors.

Following is a summary of the background to the court session:

A VICTIM OF THE REAL ESTATE CRISIS

Risanamento, which means “healing”, launched two key projects in Italy’s financial capital Milan at the peak of the real estate market. Property prices in Italy did not decline as sharply as elsewhere, but the financ... [MORE]

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled a $25m, energy-efficient office building on the Brooklyn waterfront a few months back. The Perry Avenue Building features solar panels, rainwater-fed toilets and six rooftop windmills, which will produce 10% of its energy supply. "Wind power in this city," said the mayor, "is one of the solutions to our problem."

guardian.co.uk.pdf

Laurent Habib prend la direction d'Havas France.

LesEchos.pdf

The roof top ceremony celebrated the triumphant emergence of one of London’s most striking 21st Century buildings, designed by world renowned architect Renzo Piano. The building on St Giles High Street has brought what Piano calls a “joyous vibrancy” to this overlooked area of central London, with its dramatic infusion of red, orange, green and yellow glazed ceramic cladding.
David Camp, chief executive of Stanhope, added the last shovel of concrete at the Topping Out ceremony for Legal & General Property and Mitsubishi Estate Company’s Central Saint Giles mixed-use development in London.
Maurits van der Staay, of Renzo Piano Building Workshop, said: "We worked a long time on getting th... [MORE]

Dutch architectural firm MVRDV and real estate developer TEDA Vantone have teamed up to build a large residential development in the center of Tianjin, a city of 11.7 million people in China.

Article.pdf

Zaha Hadid, the Baghdad-born, London-based architect, has received two major commissions in as many weeks for large-scale projects to be built in Cairo, Egypt.

Article.pdf

Bulls in a China shop.

FinancialTimes.pdf