Altarea SCA

Altarea Cogedim

Type	Société en commandite par actions
Traded as	Euronext: ALTA
Founded	1994 (1994)
Founder	Alain Taravella[1] and Jacques Nicolet[2]
Headquarters	Paris, France[3]
Area served	Europe
Key people	Alain Taravella (Chairman)
Revenue	€1,582 billion (2016) [4]
Total assets	€4.512 billion (2016) [4] residential reservations: 10,011 units (2016) [5] rental retail: €168,3 (2016) [6]
Number of employees	1400
Website	AltareaCogedim.com

Altarea SCA, trading as Altarea Cogedim, is a French company dedicated to both the development and investment in real estate, focusing especially on in construction, extension and development of shopping centers, as well as property development. Headquartered in France, it operates local agencies and subsidiaries in Spain and Italy.^[7] It was founded in 1994.

History

Creation and development of the group

The company was founded in 1994 by Alain Taravella and Jacques Nicolet,.^[1][2] The company was initially engaged in the shopping malls development.^[1][2] During the following years, it absorbed several smaller firms in the French property sector : in 1995, Altarea acquired Le Gerec, a company created in 1973 specializing in shopping center construction. Its subsequent rapid growth included winning a competition organized by the town of Le Havre for the construction of Espace Coty.^[8]

In 1997, Altarea began construction on the Bercy Village shopping center in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, which opened in 2000. The project aimed to revive a historic neighborhood of Paris.^[8] In 2001 was established the Italian subsidiary. The Group opened several shopping centers in 2002: Espace Jaurès in Brest, Espace Grand’Rue in Roubaix, Côté Seine in Argenteuil and the Gare du Nord boutiques in Paris. At the same time, Altarea launched its open air retail park activity by creating Compagnie Retail Park, a subsidiary in charge of this sector.^[9] The Group gradually developed its business activity in different countries of the European Union. It thus extended its activity to Italy in 2001 by creating Altarea Italia. In 2004, Altarea España was created in Spain. Today, it features a major shopping center located in Sant-Cugat, near Barcelona. In 2011, Altarea Cogedim supplemented its various business activities by creating AltaFund, an investment fund dedicated to office property.

Acquisition of Cogedim

In 2007, Altarea purchased Cogedim. Cogedim had been founded in 1963 and whose main activities are the development of housing, offices and hotels.^[10] In addition to its housing activity in the major French metropolitan areas, the Group also developed its activity in upmarket commercial real estate and luxury hotels, with the renovation of the Salle Wagram in 2009, the opening of the Marriott Renaissance Arc de Triomphe and the Radisson Blu in Nantes in 2012, and the InterContinental Hôtel Dieu in Marseille in 2013.^[11]

Stake in the Rungis International Market

In 2007, the Group acquired 34% of SEMMARIS – a semi-public company that manages the Rungis International Market – by becoming the majority shareholder alongside the state. The Rungis International Market is the world’s largest wholesale food market in terms of volume.^[12]

Development of retail and e-commerce activity

Since 2011, Altarea Cogedim has developed its commercial activity by opening several shopping centers in France: Family Village® in Limoges, the Okabé shopping centre and offices in Kremlin-Bicêtre, the acquisition of Cap 3000 in Saint-Laurent-du-Var, near Nice among others. Altarea Cogedim owns 41 shopping centers in France, Italy and Spain.^[13]

In 2012, it acquired a 96.5% interest in Rueducommerce, an e-commerce company operating through the website rueducommerce.fr.^[14] In August 2015, loss-making Rue du Commerce was sold to the Carrefour Group.^[15]

In 2014, the QWARTZ regional connected shopping center was opened in Hauts-de-Seine (92).^[16] The center received quality certification in 2014 a MAPIC Award for "Most Innovative Shopping Center ^[17] and the Special Jury Prize at the ninth SIIC awards.^[18]

Growth of real estate activity

In 2012, Alain Taravella, president and founder of the Altarea Cogedim group, and Richard Hennessy, president of the Histoire & Patrimoine firm and a specialist in historic real estate, signed an agreement ceding 55% of the capital of Histoire & Patrimoine to Altarea Cogedim through a capital increase.^[19] In 2015, Altarea Cogedim announced its acquisition of Pitch Promotion ^[20] a transaction that was finalized in February 2016.

Governance

Executive Committee

The executive Committee is made up of Alain Taravella, Chairman and Founder, Stéphane Theuriau, Chairman of the Cogedim Supervisory Board, Eric Dumas, Chief Financial Officer, Ludovic Castillo, Chief Executive Officer of Altarea Commerce and Chairman of Altarea Italia, Philippe Jossé, CEO of Cogedim, Albert Malaquin, Group CEO for Digital Technology and Innovation, Patrick Mazières, General Manager of Cogedim, Philippe Mauro, Altarea Cogedim Corporate Secretary, Nathalie Bardin, Head of Institutional Relations, Communication and CSR, Laurent Campredon, Altarea Cogedim Real Estate Legal Director, and Karine Marchand, Human Resources Director of Altarea Cogedim.^[21]

Supervisory Board

The Supervisory Board is chaired by Christian de Gournay Representatives of the major shareholders also sit on the Supervisory Board: the pension fund ABP and the insurance company Prédica-Crédit Agricole Assurances, as well as independent members.

Ownership and financial data

Ownership

According to the reports from the company, 46% percent of it is owned by Alain Taravella (at 31 December 2016), 8% by ABP funds, 27% CA Group, 18% by Public & others.^[22]

Financial results

In 2016, the Group’s total revenues increased 29.8% over the prior fiscal year, to €1,582 billion Listed on compartment A of Euronext Paris, Altarea had a market capitalisation of €2.8 billion at 31 December 2016.^[4]

Relevant projects

In 1997, Altarea began construction on the Bercy Village shopping center in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, which opened in 2000. Bercy Village, a non-standard shopping mall, was one of the first major projects of Altarea.

In the early 2000s, Altarea introduced the Family Village concept. It involves shopping malls with a distinctive architecture and environmentally friendly designed for a clientele consisting of families and multiple age groups. The whole structure centers on parks and green areas.^[23] Bercy Village attracts 12 million visitors each year, 20% of whom are tourists.^[24]

In 2007, Altarea Cogedim purchased from the French State a 33.34 percent stake in Semmaris, the company that manages the Rungis International Market, the biggest wholesale food market in the world.^[10][25][26]

On 23 February 2011, it was announced that Altarea Cogedim, together with CFC Développement, will build the new French headquarters of Mercedes-Benz at Montigny-le-Bretonneux, replacing the current system of three venues for the carmaker distributed throughout the country. Altarea constructed around 170,000 m² of offices and hotels in 2011.^[27]

On 27 October 2011, an Altarea Cogedim subsidiary, Altacom, acquired a 24.13 percent stake in Rue du Commerce SA, one of France’s leading online retailers.^[28] On 26 January 2012, Altacom announced the purchase of a 95.11 percent majority stake, taking control of the firm, which allowed Altarea to diversify its business approach.^[29][30]

In 2012, Altarea Cogedim won the contract for the Place du Grand Ouest project in Massy, a mixed-use development of 100,000 m² (1,076,000 square feet). This project represents the biggest construction site in Greater Paris, and as the sole operator Altarea Cogedim plans to create around 900 dwellings, a 150-room hotel, a public parking lot with 550 spaces, a conference center including a 600-seater auditorium, a 12-screen cinema, a preschool and 8,000 m² (86,000 square feet) of local stores.^[31]

In 2016, Altarea Cogedim was awarded the contracts for several mixed-use developments in various cities, comprising housing, offices and businesses, including the construction of the Belvédère neighborhood in Bordeaux (140,000 m² [1,500,000 square feet], with business and conference centers), the conversion of the Blanchisserie Centrale site at Lyon’s Hospices Civils hospital^[32] (17,500 m² [188,000 square feet] right in the heart of the city, to be completed in 2018) and a new project at the National Centre for Telecommunications Research in Issy-les-Moulineaux^[33] (100,000 m² designed around a 13,000-m² [140,000-square-foot] urban park and offering housing, offices, public amenities and a daycare center). The Group was also chosen to be the sole operator of a city-center project of more than 100,000 m² in Bobigny.^[34]

References