Patrizia completed deals worth more than €3.5 billion last year in highly attractive sectors of the real estate market, consolidating its position in the international investment arena. The breakdown of capital invested reveals a diversified strategy covering several key sectors for future urban and sustainable development.
Of the total capital deployed, 21% was allocated to projects focused on the digitisation of communities and the development of smart cities, through the deployment of new fibre networks and the expansion of broadband operators. 20% was invested in the housing sector, with a focus on affordable and sustainable properties designed for construction and rental. Just over 11% was channelled into the global energy transition, with investments in infrastructure for electric vehicle charging, energy distribution and renewable energy. Nearly 10% of capital was allocated to real estate and infrastructure lending opportunities.
In terms of deal volume and investment trends, over 80% of all transactions during the year were acquisitions or new investments, allowing Patrizia to capitalise on challenging market conditions to grow organically and expand its international real estate asset platform. The total volume was distributed between real estate (55%) and infrastructure (45%), with around 25% of all transactions taking place in the US and APAC markets, evidencing significant international expansion.
In the real estate segment, the most active markets included Germany (35%), Iberia (15%), UK & Ireland (12%), Benelux (10%) and the Nordic countries (10%), reaffirming Patrizia's commitment to being an active investment manager in the main European markets. The company continued to focus on building a portfolio of high quality assets in the logistics and residential sectors, while selective and strategic divestments reduced exposure in the office and retail sectors.
In an effort to foster growth, Patrizia also made significant investments in its existing platform of real estate assets, allocating €2.6 billion to renovation and development projects, with a predominant focus on offices (44%) and residential (37%). In addition, value-added capex projects worth approximately €1 billion were managed across the group's portfolio, including urban logistics repositioning and solarisation initiatives in Germany.
The company signed commercial leases totalling more than 575,000 square metres with renowned tenants such as Clifford Chance, Coca-Cola Group, Commerzbank and BMW. In addition, it secured the refinancing of almost €3 billion of debt for flagship assets such as the Commerzbank Tower in Frankfurt and the Caverns energy storage facility in northern Germany, the latter a pioneering initiative in the large-scale safe storage of hydrogen.
