- COIMA acquires an 18% stake in high-end residential broker Abilio and transfers 100% ownership of specialist broker Residenze Porta Nuova to Abilio
- Collaboration between COIMA and Abilio to focus on marketing COIMA’s €1 billion plus residential pipeline
- Deal will accelerate Abilio’s growth plan to generate €60 million in revenue on a yearly basis by 2025
Milan, 1 May 2023 - COIMA, the leading Italian ESG-led investor, developer and asset manager, has signed a strategic real estate partnership with Abilio, an illimity Group company that specialises in the digital brokerage of real estate.
Under the agreement, approved by the shareholders' meeting of Abilio and to be finalised by end of May 2023, COIMA takes an 18% stake in Abilio through a reserved capital increase. At the same time, COIMA transfers 100% of Residenze Porta Nuova (“RPN”), the prestigious Milan agency that specialises in the marketing and leasing of high-end residential properties, to Abilio. COIMA will also appoint the Deputy-Chairman in the Abilio board.
RPN was established by COIMA SGR in 2009 to market and manage the residential element of COIMA’s large-scale urban development project Porta Nuova in Milan, including the world-famous Bosco Verticale and Solaria, the tallest residential tower in Italy. RPN now employs a highly experienced team of professionals, with between 15 and 40 years of experience and over 50,000 flats managed, with the ability to assist customers through every step of the residential sales process, from research to after-sales.
The partnership between the two companies will involve full operational and commercial integration in Milan, leveraging the power of Abilio's cutting-edge, multi-channel platforms, and unique expertise in the real estate sector. The collaboration will focus on the marketing of high-end residential assets, with an extensive project pipeline – both developed and under construction by COIMA – estimated to exceed €1 billion.
For Abilio, the partnership will help accelerate its plans to generate around €60 million in revenue over the next three years, as the two companies explore areas of synergy and strategy, including the implementation of technology in real estate and the use of data to better interpret new living trends within COIMA’s residential projects.
This includes leveraging Abilio’s new Quimmo proptech initiative, the latest generation platform designed to streamline property transactions and cover the entire value chain, which has over 21 million visits and currently services around 2,000 property transactions each year.
For COIMA SGR, the agreement with Abilio is part of its strategy aimed at developing and supporting the roll-out of advanced digital technologies in real estate and infrastructure. Through COIMA Human Technology, the company created with the mission of developing and integrating digital solutions to enable services tailored to people’s needs, COIMA has started on a ‘smart neighbourhood’ pilot programme aimed at using digital technologies, including the Internet of Things, to build stronger communities, helping to boost inclusivity, engagement and drive positive social impact.
The pilot is located in COIMA’s Porta Nuova regeneration development in Milan, where initiatives include the development of IOT infrastructure and a Portanuova Milano neighborhood app. This initial pilot is aimed at integrating physical and digital spaces to activate the local community and build better social and environmental outcomes.
COIMA is also partnering with Italian government through CDP Venture Capital SGR to support HabiSmart, an accelerator for proptech start-ups in Milan which will select the most innovative 30 startups in the proptech and smart buildings sector across the next three years.
Manfredi Catella, Founder and CEO of COIMA, said: "The partnership with an innovative player like illimity has a strategic value for COIMA, consolidating the product digitalisation programme started with COIMA Human Technology and with the establishment of the first national proptech accelerator HabiSmart in partnership with CDP. The industrial collaboration with illimity, in addition to growth in residential placement through the common platform of Abilio, will be able to develop in other synergistic areas such as specialised credit funds and real estate enhancement activities".
Corrado Passera, Founder and CEO of illimity, said: "We are particularly proud that a player of the calibre of COIMA has recognised the potential of Abilio and the new proptech initiative, Quimmo. Thanks to this agreement we will be able to accelerate our development plan launched in the real estate market where we expect to generate around EUR 60 million in revenue over the next three years starting from one of the most vibrant Italian marketplaces. I therefore welcome our new partner who will support us in a development path that will create value not only for Abilio, but for the entire illimity Group".