home

ARECneprix Blog

Troverai tantissimi articoli legati al mondo dei distressed credit e delle vendite, ma anche approfondimenti sulle tematiche di innovazione, tecnologia e real estate.

You will find many articles related to the world of distressed credit, but also insights on the topics of innovation, technology and real estate.

Careers We are looking for people, talents, not just employees. Professionals with experience and expertise. Do you want to work with us?

Blog - ARECneprix

What is asset management? Definition and examples 

 company is a specialised entity that manages and adds value to financial and real estate portfolios on behalf of institutional and private investors. Its primary role is to optimise returns on assets under management through targeted investment strategies tailored to the risk profile and objectives of its clients. 

In the financial sector, asset management refers to a range of activities related to the 

management of financial instruments, credit assets

 with the aim of increasing their value over time.

Understanding the concept of asset management is essential to grasping the 

 role that these firms play as qualified intermediaries between investors and financial markets.

As the sector has evolved, asset management companies have broadened their capabilities, incorporating analytical expertise and innovative tools to navigate the complexities of the global economic landscape.

Management of investment funds and financial portfolios

One of the core services of an asset management company is the management of 

. These vehicles pool capital from a number of investors and allocate it across a diversified range of assets, including equities, bonds and alternative instruments. The objective is to generate returns that align with defined strategies, while balancing risk and reward.

The concept of asset management - what it is and how it works - is closely linked to the ability to select and monitor financial instruments using 

. Investment diversification is a fundamental principle that helps to reduce exposure to individual risks and optimise returns over the medium to long term.

Engaging a specialist asset manager means gaining access to a team of professionals who continuously analyse macroeconomic scenarios and identify the most promising investment opportunities to achieve sustainable capital growth.

Real estate asset valuation and management

In addition to the financial sector, many entities are involved in the management and enhancement of 

. So what is asset management in this context? It refers to the activities involved in selecting, acquiring, managing and disposing of properties with the aim of maximising the return on real estate investments.

Strategies vary depending on the type of asset and the objectives of the owner. For 

, the focus is on efficient management, maintenance and rental optimisation. Properties held for 

 are repositioned and redeveloped to increase their market value.

A structured approach to real estate management improves investment performance while mitigating risks associated with fluctuations in the real estate market.

Management of distressed credit and assets: the role of ARECneprix

A highly specialised area of asset management concerns the 

) exposures involve corporate borrowers who are experiencing temporary financial difficulties but have the potential to recover.

 is a leading player in this field, offering tailor-made solutions for managing and increasing the value of credit and real estate portfolios. Through targeted strategies, the company helps investors and financial institutions manage complex exposures with the aim of turning problem assets into value-generating opportunities.

With multi-disciplinary expertise and in-depth market knowledge, ARECneprix offers a comprehensive service to those seeking effective management of their investments. For more details on the solutions we offer, please visit the 

ARECneprix positions itself in the market as a specialised asset manager with a focus on credit and real estate and the structuring of complex transactions. Its services include asset management, structuring & financing, special servicing and advisory. ​

, the company offers a comprehensive suite of services ranging from investor support to real estate valuation and analysis, to big data analytics, data enrichment, location intelligence and, finally, property management.

, ARECneprix manages, appraises and increases the value of real estate assets by bringing together expertise in valuation, technical due diligence, project monitoring and real estate development, both greenfield and brownfield sites.

 service, ARECneprix assists investors across the entire value chain - from project inception to due diligence and management of corporate secured and unsecured asset classes - by means of detailed credit assessments, legal analysis and valuations of the underlying real estate assets.

 strategy is rooted in a strong commitment to restoring performing status (

) through a consensual approach aimed at aligning the interests of borrowers and stakeholders.

Discover what an asset management company is, its role in managing investments, and the services it provides.

Proptech italiano: aumentano le startup che vogliono innovare il real estate

Italian proptech: an increase in the number of start-ups trying to innovate the real estate sector

Data analytics, data science, artificial intelligence and machine learning: these are the technologies most used by companies taking innovation into one of the slowest industries wishing to accept change, the real estate sector. That is the situation emerging from the 2023 survey carried out by Italian Proptech Network in conjunction with ARECneprix. In general, the report points to growth in the use of technologies by businesses in the sector, while bringing up the rear is the innovation of materials, robotic systems and 3D printing.

The survey carried out by Italian Proptech Network covered a total of 337 businesses, up by 19% over 2022 and approximately eight times the number surveyed in 2018 when only 43 were involved. A vital ecosystem, especially in the North (61% of the total), compared to 16% in the Centre and 5% in the South. The report also finds room for 18% based outside Italy but set up by Italian founders. The lion’s share belongs to Milan, with the Lombardy capital accounting for 35% of the companies surveyed, a good 117. More than 80% have fewer than twenty employees: 42% actually have under five. The presence of women could be improved: only 33% compared to 67% for men. As to age, 67% belong to the cohort of the millennials, people born between the early 1980s and the mid 1990s.

Digging deeper into the economic data, the report shows that 29% of the companies surveyed operate in the fintech cluster of the real estate industry, 28% in professional services, 18% in the sharing economy, 15% in smart real estate and only 10% in contech, considered the most stubborn and most resistant to innovation: we are talking here about construction technology, in a nutshell everything that revolves around worksites. Perhaps one of the last strongholds in which the human factor makes the difference. But also, and precisely for this reason, a territory to a large extent uncharted by the innovators, where interesting niches for growth can be found. Assistance for anyone physically constructing buildings may arrive from the latest findings in terms of measurement or, for example, occupational safety. “We’re practically at zero in the contech cluster”, remarked Andrea Ciaramella, associate professor of the technology of architecture at Milan Polytechnic and coordinator of the Italian Proptech Network study. “There’s an extremely low propensity to digitalisation. The technology is actually already available, buy you have to know how to use it and the construction industry is loath to do so”. “But contechs are capable of increasing the productivity and sustainability of construction companies, and significantly”, added Daniele Levi Formiggini, Head of Real Estate Services in ARECneprix.

“An interesting aspect”, said Ciaramella, picking up again, “is that a large percentage of the surveyed businesses are at the pre-seed or seed phase, meaning at the initial stages of business development”. That means, the professor continued, that there is excitement and enthusiasm, even if the market test has still to be passed: as happens to all start-ups, the mortality rate in this period of the life of a business is, in fact, high. In practice, it is a question of validating your business model: 92% have had to make changes to what they started out with before taking the lift to success.

Forty-four per cent of the businesses surveyed work in the facility management field, 39% in asset management; one in four includes planning among its business activities, meaning the digital management of projects and the resources deployed.

While the number of proptech companies is rising, Ciaramella noted, the number of funding rounds is falling slightly, in both the early growth and growth phases. “The sector as a whole”, the professor noted, “is undergoing consolidation, but this is still at its initial stages: you can, however, see a high level of flexibility and adaptability in the forms of funding”, with 50% of businesses supported by entrepreneurs and industrial groups, 33% by business angels, 19% by institutional investors and 17% by venture capital.

It is interesting to note that approximately 60% of proptechs, or three out of five, say that they have encountered critical matters of a legal nature. Of these, 19% speak of a lack of regulations, 17% of problems connected with intellectual property and 14% of issues arising in relation to capital increases. Only 11% on the other hand refer to the administrative sphere.

“Italian proptechs are usually set up by young partners who have found an interesting tech solution” Ciaramella concluded. “A good number of them have a technical grounding in the IT field; we note, however, that many of them are not familiar with the mechanisms governing the real estate sector, and when they begin to sell their products they encounter situations that are very different from what they had anticipated. This is clear from the events we organise: there is far too much concentration on algorithms and tools, while what is needed is a complete vision of the market they want to face. Business partners are often based in wholly unrelated sectors; we therefore hope that in future real estate will come closer to proptechs, also by taking steps designed to encourage the meeting between innovation supply and demand”.

 “Traditionally, investors in the real estate sector have been hesitant to put their money into technological innovation or research and development”, added Levi Formiggini. “Nevertheless the situation is gradually changing, with an increase in the awareness of the benefits that proptechs can offer in terms of operating efficiency. A growing number of operators are beginning to recognise the value of innovation in this sector and explore the opportunities they can derive from it”.

To update professionals in the sector, Italian Proptech Network has organised an executive course with a highly practical leaning. “The lectures will take place between June and July at Milan Polytechnic and there will be a focus on business cases”, stated Ciaramella, “because we believe that this is the most effective means of understanding this market”. The approach will be based on data analysis. Six thematic modules, with experts and executives having an international curriculum teaching by way of interaction with the students. It is precisely for this reason, Ciaramella concluded, “that I don’t believe that Italy is lagging behind. A start was undoubtedly made earlier elsewhere, but in London, at the biggest industry fair in the world, I received confirmation that the gap can be easily closed. What is missing in Italy is awareness of the ecosystem”.

L’anima tech e digitale di ARECneprix

ARECneprix’s tech and digital soul

A division capable of responding quickly and efficiently to its colleagues’ needs. Smoothly integrated into the business, strategically deployed for working alongside all corporate areas and able to develop applications that employ the most innovative solutions, including those involving the world of artificial intelligence.

We begin by listing out a customer’s needs, which we then classify and analyse to identify the key issues on which the creation of the made-to-measure software is to be based.

“From the development of applications to microservices, what we are seeking is the technological and innovative route for satisfying a specific need”.  

This is then followed by the real planning stage, whose length depends on the complexity of the solution. Finally comes the testing, the last step before the distribution of the product.

“We often find” says Mancuso, “that our colleagues don’t believe that a number of daily challenges can be overcome through the use of AI. But that’s how it is. Today we can do things that were thought unthinkable just a year ago, for example by using pre-trained models that enable us to save a large amount of time. In such a competitive market the challenges increase from one day to the next, but having an in-house division dedicated to technology provides us with unparalleled assistance in tackling these”.

Our aim is to take solutions to the table that are more far-reaching than just a specific request.  “We want to simplify and optimise activities, and starting from only a small need you can often find several ways of improving an entire process”, Martino continues.

At the present time ARECneprix uses a variety of solutions, while others are at the development stage and will be implemented during 2024.

One of the most interesting of those currently in use is a location intelligence solution. “Location intelligence is a cornerstone for us, especially in the real estate sphere. We have created a platform that analyses geospatial data in real time and converts this into valuable information.

Another important initiative on which ARECneprix is concentrating its resources is the use of generative artificial intelligence for the ‘facilitated reading’ of various kinds of document: we have tested this advanced technology for improving the understanding of texts to enhance the interpretative ability of our models, in this way driving machines to a new level of text comprehension”.

In addition, our objective has been to create not only isolated solutions but also a complete ecosystem. “Our work focuses on the synergy between the diverse advanced solutions, all built into a single application solution. This approach aims at supporting the main business processes and functions taken as a whole. We have developed another application solution that acts as the bond between the various implemented components of artificial intelligence. The intention is to create a dynamic environment that does not only efficiently manage the processes but also provides fundamental support for our core activities”.

Teamwork: that is the central theme according to Martino Mancuso, Head of Analytics and Development.

“We have a multi-disciplinary team composed of technical profiles working alongside a series of functional figures: the sum of all this is a set of skills held by people ranging from physicists to IT experts, passing by way of those with abilities of a more engineering nature such as myself”.

“The best part of being a member of a company such as ARECneprix is the possibility of working in close synergy with all of its business activities: we assist colleagues with their daily tasks, we listen to them, we get to know their needs and we propose solutions. In short, we are an integral part of the process, having a truly collaborative, but at the same time nimble, approach that leads to the creation of effective synergies”.

Aperte le iscrizioni a FAMP, il nuovo programma di ARECneprix per formare gli Asset Manager del futuro 

Applications open for FAMP, ARECneprix's new training program for the Asset Managers of the future

Six months to train the Asset Managers of the future. It’s called FAMP and the acronym stands for Future Asset Manager Program: illimity academy’s new training opportunity 

open to all new graduates and undergraduates

 who want to start their career in a high-potential industry. With the scientific supervision of Laura Grassi, lecturer at Milan Polytechnic, a maximum of ten candidates will enter the heart of the Asset Manager profession with frontal classroom lessons and support training in ARECneprix. The teaching staff will consist mainly of professionals in ARECneprix and illimity in order to give a practical slant to the program, but the Polytechnic’s professors and those of other universities will also provide their contribution as well as professionals who collaborate with ARECneprix.  

The program concentrates on the specific subject of credit management in all its aspects, from analysis to the formulation of the strategy for maximising returns.

The Asset Manager deals with credit positions for their entire lifecycle

 and has a profound knowledge of the organisational structure, the policy and the processes. Financial economic principles, legal expertise, applications systems, vertical skills in real estate, cross-disciplinary abilities: these are just a few of the areas the lessons will focus on. The 

, with frontal lessons from Monday to Friday that will be given at  the offices of ARECneprix in Milan, just a short walk from Central Station, for a total of two hundred hours. “The very fact of being in the company’s offices will enable students 

”, states Ilaria Pascutti, Head of HR in ARECneprix. 

Lessons will be given on the basis of the model followed in the world’s best business schools, which 

alternate classroom lessons with on-the-job training

 and make extensive use of case studies and simulations. Sessions working alongside expert colleagues are also included, as a means of learning by watching a real working day. At the end of the course there will be the possibility of being taken on with an apprenticeship contract in the company’s offices in Milan or Rome.  

The program is intended for undergraduates or graduates who are following or have followed courses in economics, engineering or architecture, who have obtained a bachelor’s or master’s degree not more than twelve months previously and who are under thirty years of age. Students close to completing their degree courses will be required to finish all their examinations before the start of the FAMP course (planned for the middle of October). 

“The Future Asset Manager Program was created to give the possibility to young people approaching the beginning of their working careers of developing their skills in what is an 

”, was the way Andrea Battisti, CEO of ARECneprix, summarised the situation. “We want to teach 

, one that is based on the manager’s professionalism, in order to work together with our customers to find tailored, valuable solutions that can have a real effect on local communities and the local area”. 

Applications remain open until 3 September 2023

. An initial video interview will subsequently be followed by a motivation test, a business case and an interview with the line and with HR. The result of the selection process will be announced on 

 is free of charge, while successful candidates will receive 700 euros a month for the internship, together with meal tickets. When making the application candidates can put their names forward for internship in the

Asset Management area, which deals with underwriting, debt restructuring and the enhancement of the value of the underlying properties, or in the Real Estate Services area, which specialises in the valuation, technical analysis and management of real estate assets. 

The right occasion to become an illimiter

An average age of thirty seven, 68% of employees under 40, a gender balance with 

45 % of women and 55% of men: the illimity Group, of which ARECneprix is a member, is an organisation that has turned the vision of the founder and chief executive officer, Corrado Passera, into a reality, “making profits to be useful”. A catalyst of figures and talents where the technological mind combines with attention to people and the propensity to seek tailored solutions. 

Urban Farmer: from Puglia, the start-up that’s racing towards energy transition

Applications open for FAMP, ARECneprix’s new training program for the Asset Managers of the future 

Urban Farmer: dalla Puglia, la startup che corre verso la transizione energetica 

The story began almost by chance. Like that of many other start-ups. One of the partners wanted to duplicate Farmville, the game made popular by Facebook. The other was increasingly wondering who were the owners of the pieces of uncultivated land he saw from the window on his travels and if it was possible to find a way of getting to work on these and making them productive. Fate did the rest, leading to a meeting between the two men. Andrea Guarrasi and Aren Hoxha got to know each another through work: “I noticed the presence of a young guy in the group who was exceptionally intelligent and talented”, Guarrasi says, “and I said to myself that I absolutely had to work with him”. No sooner said than done.

The story of Urban Farmer and its portal 

 is like many others that take place in the world of innovative businesses. Two regular jobs, the dream of “giving it a try”, the fear of the leap represented by the opening of a company. A story, though, which compared to the others, has one extra ingredient: a friendship which, over time, has gone beyond the boundaries of work to become a personal relationship.

Founded in March 2022, Cererly, the platform set up by Guarrasi and Hoxha, could be the missing link between the owner of land and the person capable of putting that land to good use.

“With Cererly we began by mapping the plots of land that could be cultivated, until we realised that these could also be used to instal renewable energy plants, obviously under certain conditions”, the founders relate. The idea was simple: “The owner registers for free on the website and enters a series of information, ranging from the existence of water to the presence of crops. In this way Cererly searches for and classifies an infinity of data and builds a large database which is then put at the disposal of businesses looking for areas that can be used for renewable energy verticals and/or farming. The advantage? Thanks to our service the scouting stage is enormously simplified and made much faster”.

Creating a business by simply following your intuition is no easy thing if you don’t have any experience. In the ocean of the Web there’s no shortage of information about how to start up an activity: but as in all cases the impact with reality turns out to be full of uncertainties. “We knew nothing at all about start-ups, pitches and MVP, we were complete ignoramuses in this area”, admits Guarrasi, thinking about the first few days. “Completely self-taught, we had to invent the first presentations. I concentrated on defining our mission and vision, while Aren focused on the aspects connected with the development of the platform and financial matters”.

The turning point arrived shortly afterwards. The two men were convinced that the idea was a good one when the website came under the spotlight of a large national daily paper that decided to talk about it. “It all happened suddenly: in the space of 24 hours after the publication of the article we experienced the first big boom in contacts, which risked crashing our website. The number of registrations increased four-fold in just one day: at that point the premises were there but we had to find a way of handling them”, the businessman says.

“What is more”, the founder continued, “we could only count on our own resources because from the start our idea was to make a careful selection of partners and collaborators. As a result, we rolled up our sleeves and began making a detailed analysis of the business models of all our potential competitors, updating ours on the basis of what we learnt from time to time and the market response”. 

The second crucial moment for the two friends arrived when they contacted a larger operator in the renewable energy industry. By simply using an email on Linkedin. “They expressed their interest and sent us a checklist with the characteristics of the plots of land on which they were working. Running through this, something clicked: engineers and surveyors could require up to two weeks to make their assessments. But our speciality lay in the digitalisation of processes and so we got down to work: our artificial intelligence tool can now do the work in a matter of seconds, analysing the land on the platform and creating the right match between demand and supply on the basis of a number of parameters. Just to give one or two examples: inclination, slope, radiation, distance between the connection cabins and from the renewable energy plants. We also give an expected profitability score to the plot”.

Land with an area totalling around 80 million square meters, eight thousand hectares, is currently to be found on Cererly. The company is proudly based in Puglia, but the meeting with ARECneprix took place in Milan: the spark between the two businesses arose immediately, states Daniele Levi Formiggini, Head of Real Estate Services in the Milan company, which is part of the illimity Group. “We liked the idea and today the technology on Cererly supports our servicer, as always seeking innovative solutions to enhance the value of the assets it manages with a special emphasis on technology”, the manager continued.

The future has yet to be discovered. Also because the prospects are constantly expanding, especially in the energy sector, which is an industry in transformation. For example, through agrovoltaics, which combines solar panels with the possibility of farming. Guarrasi and Hoxha intend to include the idea of selecting and proposing plots of land suitable for any type of use, including storage, which with the renewables will become essential for the stability of the electricity network. “We provide a useful service: in Italy, around 16 million hectares of land are dedicated to agriculture”, the businessman says, “five of which are unused or abandoned, but the alarming fact is that this is increasing by around 400 thousand hectares a year. And yet only seventy thousand would be needed to obtain energy independence based on renewables, little more than around 1% of the total. Without counting the fact, he added, that when a plot of land is abandoned to a state of neglect it is much easier for it to catch fire or become an open-air rubbish dump.

 is working on an algorithm to recognise not only the potential of land but also that of other surfaces such as sunroofs and bodies of water that can play a role in energy transition through the installation of wind turbines. They certainly have the wind in their sails. “This project is an excellent example of how technology and data analysis can help you seize new opportunities for enhancing asset value”, Levi added. “But there’s another issue which we’re keen on and which the start-up allows us to follow, and that is sustainability: which is precisely why illimity has an energy desk specialising in investments in loans whose underlying consists of renewable-energy power plants. We have a strong belief in the “green” conversion of assets, for example by installing photovoltaic panels on roofs, and we are working to achieve more ambitious objectives that are capable of creating new value around the real estate assets we manage”.

eUrban: un progetto di evoluzione urbana a Roma che mette al centro la persona

eUrban: an urban development project in Rome that puts people at the centre

Redevelop with an eye to the environment, soften the rationalist lines of the concrete structures by interspersing them with parks and art. The eUrban project, to be found in the Torrino, Castellaccio and Eur districts of Rome, is an example of ARECneprix’s vision as it assists investors guided by ESG principles and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): the creation of value through credit management capable of generating social impact. The intervention included in the masterplan developed by the architect Franco Purini has sparked off an urban regeneration process that allows the area to be seen in a new and pleasant way, thanks also to the collaboration with twelve artists whose works are exhibited 

Work, home and leisure: these are the three spirits living together in harmony in eUrban. The district has long hosted the offices of leading multinational groups such as Eni and Procter & Gamble, standing alongside those of the Ministry of Health and the metropolitan city known as “Roma Capitale”. The new Eurohive rises alongside these: a workplace occupying an area of nineteen thousand square metres intended for companies wishing to have at their disposal a building whose spaces have been redesigned in accordance with the latest trends and which fully responds to the new requirements of hybrid work.

“The office concept has been significantly thought out again over the past few years”, explains Mario Piccione, Head of Commercial Real Estate in ARECneprix. “In EuroHive the employee is put at the centre, with the emphasis placed on well-being during working hours. For example the amenities include a relaxation room, which can be used either for a short break or for carrying out work requiring that extra bit of concentration, the use of stairs is encouraged following the creation of a footpath displaying works of art to give people spending much of their time sitting at desks an incentive to get up and move around, there are open-air workstations available for staff to perform informal work or take a simple break by taking advantage of the green areas that have been created and there is a 

, a food service able to meet everyone’s dietary requirements”.

The reasoning behind this is to create liveable communities and not simply workplaces.

As well as having flexible and modular offices, EuroHive also provides facilities such as meeting rooms, an auditorium, sidewalk cafés, outside workstations, inside and outside spaces for events, a shuttle service to and from the EUR Fermi underground station and a bistrot with a food service able to meet everyone’s dietary requirements. All of which is accessible via a dedicated app that makes booking easy. “We are talking about a highly sustainable building that is WELL Gold certified”, Piccione explains, “thanks to the photovoltaic system, the trigeneration plant that serves the district and the BMS system for the optimisation of energy usage”.

A permanent open-air art exhibition has been set up to make walking more enjoyable, The Walkaround Gallery, which presents reproductions of the works of twelve modern artists: Angelo Azzellini, Enzo Barchi, Kenji De Angelis, Anna Di Paola, Virginio Favale, Mohssen Kasirossafar, Ria Lussi, Patrizio Prunas, Enzo Ragazzini, Lena Salvatori and Dirk Vogel. A harmonic and choral concept conceived as a “

” installation that weaves its way along the path that can be discovered by strolling around eUrban’s pedestrian zone. “The working environments are enlivened by the energy of the people that frequent them, but it is precisely because they are common spaces that apart from the top managers’ offices they are usually neglected”, stated Ria Lussi, commenting on the project that has seen her involved. The underlying idea of EuroHive, on the other hand, “is to make it possible, in a country where there is an abundance of modern art, to create a virtuous dialogue that enables art to be accessible to everyone”.

The project wouldn’t be complete without the two green areas: The Moving Forest, the temporary plantation consisting of four hundred trees and eighty shrubs, and The Italian Zen Garden, filled with medicinal plants and an olive tree, set up with the support of the Botanic Garden of Rome and the La Sapienza University. Inspiring the new generations is the best way to build a brighter future: which is why every Thursday in May children from the schools in Rome’s ninth district were accompanied by their teachers on a visit to the two eUrban parks. Behind this was the idea to consolidate artistic and ecological awareness in youngsters and invite them to design their idea of tomorrow.

A fully-designed district that puts the individual at the centre

“The district has been conceived again from the start. It’s much nicer now and more liveable and pleasant, even if you only want to go for a walk. In short, it’s not only a place where you can work well but one where you can also live well, taking into account that the La Vaccheria Museum and the 17 hectares of the Eur-Castellaccio Park have been given back to the city, two of the urbanisation works included in eUrban’s urban planning agreement”, says Piccione. The project, run by SGR Silver Fir Capital with the support of ARECneprix on behalf of the funds of the GWM group”, can, according to the manager, become the trigger for other urban regeneration measures, also in Rome. “There are many opportunities for working on what has already been built by converting the existing buildings, also in central zones, enhancing the value of the local areas, regenerating the social fabric and creating sustainable communities”.

ARECneprix, una fusione tra tecnologia e approccio sartoriale 

ARECneprix, a merger between technology and a tailored approach

A merger that is more than just the sum of the parts: an integration of missions rather than procedures. Andrea Battisti, CEO of ARECneprix, tells us about the birth of the new company, which took place in January, and does this by starting out with the market situation.

“The Italian market is on average mature”, he says, “with 50% of the assets being managed by the top five operators and 75% by the top ten”. In addition, revenues in the sector, which have seen constant double-digit growth for the past decade, are suffering a slowdown: growth was 9% in 2022, while a rise of only around 4% is expected for 2023. “Another symptom”, Battisti reasons. “If we add to this that banks have now got their NPL ratios under control, there doesn’t seem to be the need for a derisking that would lead to significant new flows. In a context like this, it is natural for the big operators to look towards combinations and partnerships”.

Standardisation of tracking at a European level is facilitating the process, including that of the possible cross-border expansion of the activities of the largest operators. Under one or two conditions, the CEO stresses: “You must remember that the distressed credit management market contains highly specific vertical elements as the result of national case law, in particular when collection takes on a judicial aspect”.

Battisti then points out that “on the other hand, other forms of combination and reasons for operators to combine are driven by the search for specialisation, such as in the case of neprix and AREC”.

For his part, if he had to describe the journey that led to the combination of Arec and neprix, general manager Marco Raccah would have no doubt: “We are simply two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that slot in together. On the one hand we have neprix’s ability to work on loans and bulk data, starting from its profound knowledge of the digital sector; while on the other, Arec’s expertise lies in analysing and managing the assets in a sartorial manner. All of which under the umbrella of illimity, the bank founded by Corrado Passera that enables both of them to deploy their potential to the utmost”.

With a long international experience behind him of working in China, Britain and Israel, Raccah was a pioneer in real estate asset enhancement. “I believe that our role as a servicer gives us a kind of social responsibility towards the economic system”, he reflects. “If you manage loans with the aim of simply selling off the underlying assets to obtain the highest market value, you are liable to trigger a mechanism that harms all of the satellite activities revolving around those assets. We take a different approach. We try to obtain more value for everyone by resorting to the use of specialist expertise gained over the years in an international context, so that at the end of the process everyone finds themselves better off”.

“The merger with neprix”, continues Raccah, “enables the typically tailored approach that has always characterised Arec to be taken to an industrial level. We are talking about cross-contamination between models”, Battisti notes. “Arec’s average ticket was very high, around thirty million euro, which was combined with a consolidated and specific verticality on enhancing real estate value. Thanks to the merger, we can also set our sights on lower figures, from five hundred thousand to a million euro, in this way managing to contain costs and extract the full value that a highly customer-centred approach is able to provide”.

As in any merger process, it’s the people that count. “In ARECneprix lawyers and asset managers work at the same table”, Raccah states. “My greatest satisfaction? When I realised that the lawyers’ teams had begun to understand the Excel spreadsheets on which the engineers were working. A team like ours must be integrated at the highest levels, and you can only achieve this objective by having professionals of different backgrounds working together on a daily basis”.

HabiSmart, si chiude il primo ciclo per l’acceleratore nazionale del proptech

HabiSmart, the first cycle of the national proptech accelerator comes to an end

Four months’ training, an initial investment of 115,000 euro for each start-up, an intense coaching path undertaken by the managers of some of the sector’s most important companies: the first cycle of HabiSmart, the acceleration programme of the National Network of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Italy’s state-controlled investment bank, which is dedicated to proptechs and sustainable building programmes, is about to come to an end. Ninety four applications were received, 38% from abroad, and out of these nine were selected: those are the numbers of the initiative managed from an operating standpoint by Digital Magics and Mass Challenge  and of which ARECneprix and abilio, two companies of the illimity Group, are among the leading corporate partners. The right starting point for launching oneself into the future in a sector which has to deal with the climate and energy crises and digital transition; but which, precisely for this reason, enjoys ample room for growth.

“The latest edition of Proptech Monitor, the annual report of Milan Polytechnic, of which we are the main partner, confirms the market potential of technology applied to real estate”, explained Daniele Levi Formiggini, Head of Real Estate Services in ARECneprix. “The digital revolution is transforming the real estate sector and this phenomenon is also part of our DNA, due to the data-led approach that we have always pursued”.

The Milan education institute’s report mapped 273 start-up proptechs across Italy at the end of 2022, of which one out of two (48%) set up in the past five years. Six out of ten (63%) are based in the north of the country, especially in Milan, and 80% have fewer than twenty employees: “The numbers have been constantly rising over the past four years”, noted Formiggini, “but the growth potential is still enormous if we consider that there are over four thousand proptechs in Europe, with a thousand in the United Kingdom alone. According to the manager, the key is to be found in the creation of a pervasive ecosystem. “You have to help start-ups work as a team by fostering their interaction with the world of academic research, as well as with venture capital companies and the sector’s most consolidated entities. What is more, I can state from my own experience that the synergies between entities that may appear distant from one another can trigger virtuous dynamics of innovation and knowledge transfer from which all stakeholders can benefit”.

This is precisely the aim of HabiSmart, which has programmes taking it as far as 2025. “At the end of the three planned cycles we have produced a mapping of Italy’s best businesses in the sector, but have also created the conditions for, on the one hand, bringing back home the start-ups that have gone abroad in search of more mature markets, and on the other for being more appealing to the international start-ups”, stated Riccardo Ruscalla, Partner of Digital Magics and the programme’s director.

There is no overriding sector in Italy’s proptech world: the Polytechnic’s census shows a somewhat homogeneous distribution of businesses, which range from professional services (28%) to real estate fintechs (26%), smart real estate-asset management companies (18%) and the sharing economy (18%). The innovation is in the 

, meaning how to modernise the building and construction sector, and 10% of the start-ups are dedicated to this.

The nine companies selected in 2022 underwent a four-month journey, during which their founders were required to attend lessons in presence for an average of one day a week. “The method we propose has been widely tested”, stated Ruscalla, “and has provided excellent results”. A broad spectrum of lectures, in which financial, fiscal, legal and governance issues are tackled, alternates with one-to-one meetings with mentors to focus on business models, refine market proposals and construct pilot projects with the corporate partners. With the added value of entering a network of valuable relationships.

A variety of backgrounds, experiences and minds crossing each other’s paths in one of the country’s most modern urban surroundings, Porta Nuova in Milan.

“Everyone’s strength is their passion for innovation, creativity and the ability to adapt to change”, Formiggini stressed. “Otherwise, they all bring something of their own: in young people curiosity and the desire to do things prevail, while those with more experience have knowledge about the specific market, consolidated skills and perseverance, a great deal of perseverance. What remains to be done, and this is my hope for the future, is to close the technological gap with foreign competition”, the manager concluded. Compared to international proptech start-ups, the business and commercial element dominates the technological and research component”. But innovation cannot ignore the need for a strong scientific ingredient too. 

HabiSmart, how to participate in 2023 cycle

The new HabiSmart cycle will begin in a few months’ time. Innovation and originality of ideas and approach, the team’s skills (which must be heterogeneous and complementary), the potential and size of the specific market and the ability to present the product or service will all be assessed during the selection process. The accelerator will acquire a participation of up to 10% in the start-up’s share capital against the initial investment, with an observer attending board of directors’ meetings. Following the initial 115 thousand euro there is the possibility that a further three hundred thousand euro will be added to the first investment. The call is addressed to a large audience. National start-ups, international start-ups with Italian founders who want set up in the country and foreign start-ups intending to enter the Italian market can all sign up.

Four months’ training, an initial investment of 115,000 euro for each start-up, an intense coaching path undertaken by the managers of some of the sector’s most important companies...

A crisis is a particular form of imbalance in a company’s financial and capital structure...

The creditor’s responsibility under the new Business Crisis Code

la-responsabilita-del-creditore-nel-nuovo-codice-della-crisi-di-impresa

A crisis is a particular form of imbalance in a company’s financial and capital structure, caused by significant losses and reductions in the value of its capital, large asymmetries in cash flows and difficulties in accessing the credit market due to a loss of trust, not only by the financial community but also by customers, suppliers and staff in general.

While the issue certainly assumes importance from an economic standpoint (with all the indicators providing evidence of this), it is also relevant from the point of view of a company’s reputation. It is an event 

that makes it difficult to carry out operations that were once less complicated.

In order to attempt to overcome the impasse, it is not only necessary 

to put the accounts and the company itself in order

, perhaps by using the services of an external professional capable of providing skilled support in dealing with (and hopefully also overcoming) the moment of discontinuity; it is also important, when the conditions exist, to initiate a revival plan following the recommendations of the legislation governing such situations.

For businesses in crisis, it is moreover essential to win back that credibility on the market that is needed to regain access to credit and reinstate business continuity and economic and financial productivity.

, which became effective in July 2022, reflects a more up-to-date narration, one in line with the need to avoid the stigma and the contrast between the parties involved.

”, for example, has been replaced by other definitions (such as “judicial liquidation”), and in particular 

the emphasis has been placed on preventive measures

, on warning systems and on negotiated resolution procedures.

The legislator has made the effort to create a collaborative framework to enable debtor and creditor to cooperate in the greater common interest: even, if necessary, with the intervention of third parties. Unfortunately there is no “instruction manual” that holds in all cases.

Code begins with a number of general provisions

 addressed to the players involved in managing the crisis or insolvency, and these can act as a basis.

These paragraphs are dedicated to principles that encourage the use of specific tools, where previously the formulation of these was often left open to interpretation. For example we are talking about the “values” that should underlie the steps to be taken and act as general guidelines in the management of a crisis.

that are capable of anticipating the crisis to the greatest extent possible

 or, at the very least, that can help identify the crisis on a timely basis, so that the necessary initiatives may be taken without delay. But that is not all: the debtor must obviously also act in accordance with the principles of 

assessment of the state of crisis objective, and remedy the “natural” asymmetry in information between the debtor and the creditor

, avoiding situations where the crisis is only identified when it is too late to act; also because the business owner’s emotions, fears and hopes for being able to resolve the situation through the passage of time often play an important role.

It can be very complicated to obtain key information. The literature, however, shows that early intervention and full disclosures increase the possibility of success and a pick-up in economic activity.

Creditors too have specific responsibilities, though

, and these can be directly inferred from the text”, stresses Francesca Giani, Head of UTP Management in neprix, “and their virtuous conduct can undoubtedly help a successful outcome of the operation to be reached”.

What are these responsibilities? “Creditors are required to act in good faith and with propriety, and to ‘collaborate loyally’ and promptly with the business owner and all the other parties that may be involved. In addition, compliance with the ‘

 about the debtor’s situation, the initiatives taken by the debtor and the information obtained is also required’.

The same principles of good faith and propriety, to be found at the beginning of the text, must therefore underlie all the measures taken, either by the business, its owner or the creditors.

“It is the legislator’s intention to 

put an end to operations that are potentially risky and harmful for all the stakeholders

. Given the difficult situation, business owners and management might, in fact, be tempted to carry out operations with a higher margin of risk in the hope of resolving the problems. On the other hand the debtor, the legislation reiterates, is required to manage the capital or the business in the overriding interest of the creditors”, Giani recalls.

”, Giani continues, “have a duty to ‘cooperate loyally’ with the debtor and 

not act in such a way as to delay or obstruct progress

. Jurisprudence will tell us the scope of these obligations but it can be assumed that in any case, as well as encouraging the avoidance of neglectful conduct, 

the text may also be interpreted as recommending positive behaviour

 designed to foster the interests of the others”.

The practical difficulty obviously lies in striking a balance

 in the negotiations carried out to avoid insolvency. These may involve a whole series of different creditors who must be equally protected and obtain satisfaction. 

 must therefore be avoided, as well as procedures – by the creditors with the greatest exposure – that may potentially harm the other entitled parties”.

“As can be seen, the legislation is complex and has yet to be ‘tested’ in the field”, Giani concludes. “A few months after its inception it can certainly be stated 

that for certain aspects the new Code represents a step forward

. It appears clear, though, that despite this, time will be needed before jurisprudence can clarify the key concepts and before the players involved are suitably equipped”.

A crisis is a particular form of imbalance in a company’s financial and capital structure, caused by significant losses and reductions in the value of its capital, large asymmetries in cash flows and..

the-creditor-s-responsibility-under-the-new-business-crisis-code

Roma, tante opportunità per chi investe nel real estat

Rome, a wealth of opportunities for anyone investing in real estate

Will Rome be the next Milan in the real estate sector? That was the topic under discussion at the 

business breakfast organised by ARECneprix and Dealflower

 on 26 June. On the table was an analysis of the differences between the two cities in the real estate market, the steps already taken and above all the capital’s potential. A wide-ranging issue, hard to cover as a whole but one for which the meeting was able to establish the essential features. Starting from the Italian experience and passing on to international models.

Marco Raccah, General Manager ARECneprix: “Close collaboration with the local administration in Rome”

In the Milan discussion interesting points emerged for sector operators in search of new investment opportunities. Marco Raccah, General Manager of ARECneprix, retraced the steps that led the company to turn its spotlights on Rome.

“History and our experience as a company teach us that the political capital always follows the financial capital in terms of real estate development”, reflected Raccah. “At a personal level I’ve seen this happen in China, a country that I’ve visited on several occasions since I was a small boy and one that I know well. Shanghai, the financial heart, was an early developer compared to Beijing, where as we know the government resides. The latter hadn’t yet undergone any significant urban regeneration, the prerequisite for raising average building quality. But one could see that the potential was there: in the first few years of the new century I began to invest in Beijing and had the opportunity of watching the transformation take place that led to the rethinking of whole areas, with the construction of iconic buildings such as the CCTV public television tower, in my opinion one of the finest in the world”. The 2008 Olympic Games were a key turning point for the Chinese capital, which for two weeks was under the world’s spotlights with the city filled with thousands of athletes, spectators and commentators.

There is a recent example in Europe too: Berlin. “Today”, Raccah continued, “Berlin is one of the most interesting cities from a real estate standpoint. I’m speaking in particular about the eastern sector, which had specific features due to the division experienced by Germany. For this reason, Berlin didn’t know about the development that was taking place in the economic centres of Munich and Frankfurt: but aided by the drive of an enlightened and far-sighted administration, one also having vision, it recouped land in the space of just a few years”.

Looking ahead with an elaborate idea of the future, the ability to imagine the city in the long term by taking account of socio-economic transformations taking place over the past few years at a pace never seen before, that’s the linchpin for carrying out projects that can resist over time and improve the quality of life for residents. “As happened in Milan and as is currently being repeated in Rome, where the local administration has acted in continuity with its predecessor. Because one of the classic Italian problems is the fact that work has to start from scratch again with every change in the city council: what is really needed, though, is a common approach to rethink a city and enhance its value, one that is able to go beyond political colours. I believe that it is essential for the public and private sectors to work together: the Rome administration is leaving a great deal of room for institutional investors”.

Projects in progress: the former Fair area, Bufalotta, Eur

Whereas a great deal has been written about Milan and real estate, how would you describe Rome?  “For decades it’s being a city characterised by a certain fragmentation”, Raccah remarked, “where developers had a typically non-institutional nature. And what is more, historically they often worked in opposition to the administration which, don’t let us forget, had the responsibility to defend a city that is an open-air museum”.

Continuing, he noted that “the capital has changed over the years. And also the approach is different today. Rome currently offers enormous opportunities, with whole areas needing regeneration”. A comparison with the country’s financial capital should also be made in this case; Milan “arrived first and what is more has had vision and continuity over the years, building the backbone of the city that we now have before our eyes”.

Has a cycle come to an end in the Lombardy capital? “Prices in Milan are currently very high, with entry barriers for developers also high. Rome on the other hand has extremely interesting prospects. The generational change in investors should not be underestimated. In short, the paradigm has mutated and this has also benefited the activity of the capital’s administration, which has worked very hard to let its potential be known, for example by presenting the city at the Cannes Mipim, Europe’s biggest real estate fair”.

ARECneprix has various projects in the pipeline. “At the moment”, stated Raccah, “a tender is in progress for the drafting of a masterplan for the redevelopment of Rome’s former fair area, close to the Aurelian Walls, which will close in September when the winning project will be announced. This is an area of 76 thousand square meters, currently not in use but located at the heart of the city’s urban fabric and still to be fully valorised”. “The project we have presented envisages the development of 44,360 square metres of gross floor area, of which 80% residential: 20% of this component will be built as social housing. The remaining 20% will on the other hand be commercial, divided between offices and retail. We are expecting a great deal from this project: if carried out successfully, it will give a significant push to the rebirth of the area and serve as an example for further activities. Besides, a large part of Rome’s real estate heritage is out-of-date and doesn’t comply with the standards you expect to see today”.

Work with us