CA Ventures names new MD, enters Italian market

CA Ventures has appointed Giuseppe Zafferri as managing director in Italy, as part of its entry into the market.

Zafferri joins CA Ventures from Eurotekna Milan, an Italian real estate general partner, where he has spent the last 12 years, most recently as head of acquisition, project & construction management. There he worked on joint ventures with companies including J.P. Morgan and BlackRock.

CA Ventures, which launched its European offering in September, has committed to spending €170 million ($190 million) per annum in the country, focusing primarily on the cities of Milan, Turin, Bologna and Florence.

Carlo Matta, head of Europe, CA Ventures, said, “Italy offers enormous opportunity in the next decade, starting with Milan, where the city’s universities offer a truly international curriculum and have a large student body. We also see great potential for developments in Turin, Bologna and Florence. We are vertically integrated, and we manage all the properties we develop; this is especially important in a market like Italy where both purpose-built student accommodation [PBSA] and build-to-rent [BTR] are nascent asset classes and good managers are few and far between. Controlling the process from investment management to development to property and asset management allows us to control risk and create value for our investors. After the United Kingdom, Ireland, Netherland and Spain, we look forward to establishing a presence in Italy and work with municipalities, landowners and developers on the next generation of PBSA and BTR developments in Italy.”