SPONSORED COMMENTARY Sorgente Group: the art of real estate orgente Group entered fund investors. The aim understanding of the markets allows management in 1999, a year is investment in us to seriously consider the oppor- Safter the introduction in Italy of trophy buildings, tunity of offering savings products the real estate investment fund regu- where value is in markets outside Italy. In 2006, at lation. In 2001, the Group’s manage- generated from roughly the same time, Sorgente ment arm, Sorgente Sgr, launched their rarity: their established ‘Main Source S.A.’ and Italy’s first closed end real estate location must be ‘Star Source Financial Services Inc. fund targeted exclusively at qualified prestigious and The first is a real estate fund man- investors raising over €100 million. unique, while agement company operating under The Michelangelo Fund immediately their architectural Luxemburg law; the latter is a US topped the performance rankings quality and their corporation delegated with the task in its category and since then the iconic nature are of asset management for US REITs. Group has enjoyed steady growth essential value Valter Mainetti’s daughter Veronica year on year. creating drivers. is managing director of Star Source Stefano Cervone, General Veronica Mainetti, Managing The portfolios are Financial Services Inc.; her real es- In 2004 Sorgente decided to enter Manager, Sorgente GROUP Director, Sorgente GROUP diversified be- tate insight is immediately evident in the retail market, with the aim of USA tween income- the particular care she dedicates to providing its distinguished compe- estate initiatives of the highest stand- producing and value-added assets, Sorgente’s Soho development. tence and results to a broader audi- ing since the end of the 19th century. and Sorgente possesses the neces- ence of private investors. The result sary skills to value, plan and finalise The westward expansion is com- was the listing on the Milan Stock In the 1920’s Valter Mainetti’s their development process. prehensive and sets the boundaries Exchange of the Caravaggio Fund grandfather ran the company that for a strategic presence in both in 2005. By the end of 2008, in Italy, erected the iron structures of the The initial strategies delivered sat- Europe and the US where Sorgente Sorgente Sgr became one of the Chrysler Building as well as the isfying results and the entrepreneur- Group aims to be a frontrunner leading market operators, success- building which houses the pres- ial vision is extended to implement among real estate investment fund fully promoting and managing 10 real tigious New York Stock Exchange. the other fundamental driving force operators by developing a range of estate investment funds, both listed Throughout the 1900s, the entre- of value for Sorgente Group: a clear financial instruments which guarantee and unlisted, with over €1.3 billion of preneurial group developed over €1 international strategy. Of course absolute transparency and simplicity assets under management. billion (in historic values) worth of real the first step towards this objective of the underlying investment vehicle, estate projects in Italy and France. involved real estate investment. In subject to the rigorous supervision of The Group’s success can be at- Valter Mainetti took the helm of the 2003, the Group arrived in New York European and US authorities. Main tributed to the strong and specific group in the 1970s, starting and and was immediately recognised by Source currently offers an invest- qualities to which its management successfully completing numerous the professional real estate com- ment fund called Historic & Trophy is rigorously faithful. First of all, its notable real estate projects. During munity of the Big Apple as a credible Building Fund (HTBF), divided in two real estate investment expertise is this time an interest developed for counterpart. Proof of this is the fact distinct sub-funds: Euro-denomi- exceptional. Far from considering the real estate investment trust (REIT) that Sorgente Group immediately nated and USD denominated. HTBF buildings a commodity to finance, market, which is already flourishing became involved with some very Euro will invest in Europe targeting Sorgente recognises and is well in the United States. The interest high profile transactions. The first in- specific cities in Western Europe versed in managing the complex ele- is sustained by the intuition that a vestment in the US was the purchase (Rome, Milan, London, Paris and ments which add value. This ability robust competence advanced in the of a majority stake in the Chrysler Prague), and HTBF USD will invest in originates from a long and significant real estate sector can benefit the Building. The well-known Art Deco the financial capitals of the US (New professional tradition: Sorgente needs of long term investors, whose skyscraper, built between 1928 and York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Group’s founder and key man is numbers increase consistent with 1930, designed by the brilliant archi- Francisco). The strategy is the same Valter Mainetti, whose family has the expansion of the welfare state in tect William Van Allen is a Manhattan for both funds: purchase interests in operated in the development of real post-industrial economies. icon represented a “trophy” invest- “trophy buildings”, characterised as ment for the Sorgente funds and a prestigious locations and of histori- Sorgente Group’s approach transaction in which the invested cal-architectural significance. The in- to planning real estate funds ac- capital doubled in only two years. vestment horizon is long-term (10–15 counts for and favours those product years), in order for properties of this characteristics which satisfy the Sorgente continued to invest nature to fully attain their intrinsic typical profiles of non-speculative in the US, in accordance with the value potential. institutional investors: pension funds, Group’s key philosophy, and pur- insurance schemes, endowments, chased a majority shareholding inter- In addition to the Italian and trusts and savings companies. Stable est in the Flatiron Building, another Luxemburg management compa- and long-term returns combined with icon located at a major intersection nies and the establishment of a limited levels of risk and medium to in New York, where Broadway meets REIT in the US, the future territorial long-term investment horizons are the Fifth Avenue. Furthermore the Group consolidation of asset management essential measures of performance commenced a residential develop- activity foresees a fund management of the Group’s funds. Based on these ment project in Soho, at the heart of company and a fund under Swiss qualities Sorgente’s funds have been cultural and artistic life, where the law which will affirm Sorgente’s effectively preferred in Italy by social architecture has a strong Italian influ- presence in one of the world’s major security entities, insurance compa- ence. Sorgente’s funds also set foot investment hubs and strengthen the nies, endowments and trusts, Banks in France, where the Group acquired existing successful ventures in Italy, and Professional Associations. a number of prestigious chateaux Luxemburg and the US. which it converted into luxury hotels. Sorgente’s real estate vision is clear and is represented by invest- The international ambitions go For further information: Sorgente Group owns the majority share ment strategies and plans that have way beyond the real estate in- [email protected] of the Flatiron Building gained the approval of professional vestment activity. Our vision and www.sorgentegroup.com.