Partners Group targets two billion residential investments

The goal is ambitious. "We want to bring - explains Marco Denari, head of Southern Europe - Private Real Estate Europe of Partners Group - from the current approximately 600 million to two billion our investments, in Italy, in the residential sector, through OnPlace, the platform that, in partnership with Investire sgr, our local operating partner, integrates digital and physical services for the management of rented residences".

Already active in Milan, Rome and Turin with more than 450 rented flats, OnPlace - which will take on a legal entity and have a Board of Directors by the summer - was born two years ago from the collaboration with Investire sgr, for the management of rented residences from its two residential investment funds, the PRS Italy fund and the PRS Italy II fund.

Corso Magenta, a Milano

'We operate,' said Denari, 'by acquiring existing buildings to renovate them through total or partial reconversions. We often take over and operate subdivisions, but these never result in micro-apartments. We have reconversions underway in the central and semi-central areas of Milan, with no exposure to abnormal situations on building sites. But we also aim to grow in other cities, such as Turin, Bologna, Florence. Through OnPlace, we will verticalise a number of services, from furniture rental to management (property management) to the maintenance of buildings and plants (facility management)'.

"The OnPlace platform and its growth," added Raniero Proietti, managing director - client solutions Europe of Partners Group, "is the first experience of a vertical strategy on a single country, Italy, which we are now flanking with the first residential propco platform on a national scale and which we will illustrate on Thursday in Rome to a select group of operators. In total, Partners Group manages 4 billion in residential between Germany and Spain. "We do not do social housing but manage residential complexes with differentiated price ranges, giving relevance - in renovations - especially to coworking spaces".

"In the real estate sector, the company has invested around EUR 1.3 billion, with 70% allocated to residential, focusing on Milan and Rome. In 2020, the PRS Italy Fund was established by Partners Group together with Investire Sgr (Banca Finnat Group) and Reale Immobil. In 2024, the launch of the new Fondo PRS Italy 2 and the acquisition of a portfolio from the Fondo Pensioni per il Personale Cariplo, of six sky-land assets, amounting to 260 million. At the end of 2024, together with the Numa Group, 'Milano Numa Sempione', a property of the PRS Italy fund for short-term stays, was launched.