PATRIZIA at 40: Looking back at the key milestones on this journey

10 / 12 / 24 - 6 minute read

2024 is a very special year for PATRIZIA. The company marks its 40th anniversary – four decades of building communities and sustainable futures and growing from a German residential real estate firm to become a leading partner for global real assets - which is what PATRIZIA is today. So, how did it all begin? How was PATRIZIA able to grow with its client to today manage approximately EUR 56 billion assets under management (AUM) on their behalf? And what is the ethos of PATRIZIA?

Who better to ask than PATRIZIA founder Wolfgang Egger, who reflects on the past 40 years and comments on the most significant milestones to date, with further quotes provided by leading PATRIZIAns too. And what better place to start than the founding year of 1984. 

Author

Wolfgang Egger

1984

PATRIZIA is founded by Wolfgang Egger in Augsburg, Southern Germany, as a real estate investor and developer, primarily in residential. The company builds up housing stock and buys existing housing from insurance companies and institutional investor companies such as pension funds, with an ambition to turn more tenants into homeowners.

1993

PATRIZIA starts third-party investment management for institutional and corporate clients.

Wolfgang Egger

“Institutional investors took note of what we were doing with their housing stock and asked us to manage assets on their behalf. Having begun investing in real estate, we understand where our investors are coming from. We have a business with a strong purpose: we help make pensions safe. The returns we achieve benefit our clients, in particular pension funds and insurance companies, which in turn need to create sustainable value for their countless customers so they receive solid pensions to have a comfortable life when they are retired.”

Wolfgang Egger, Founder of PATRIZIA

“As a truly independent investment manager we always ensure we have a strong local presence with competent people on the ground in each of our key markets to stay close to our clients. Clients want to be served locally and, at the same time, want to invest globally.”

Dr. Konrad Finkenzeller, PATRIZIA Head of Client Division

Dr. Konrad Finkenzeller

1999

PATRIZIA sets up the PATRIZIA Foundation to give children and young people around the world access to education and training.

“Making an impact has always been in our DNA. If you’re looking for evidence of PATRIZIA’s commitment to the ‘S’ in ESG, then I can think of no better example than the Foundation. We started by supporting a children’s hospital in Tanzania back in 1984. Then we helped create the ‘Colourful Circle’ (Bunter Kreis) in Germany to support the aftercare of children with severe diseases which today has more than 90 local initiatives across Germany and is today financed through the German healthcare system. Later, the PATRIZIA Foundation became the central element of our impact focus. In 25 years, the Foundation has given 700,000 children worldwide access to education, care and healthcare to live a better life. Making a difference is truly rewarding and something we are very passionate about.”

Wolfgang Egger

“Since 1999, we have been creating real change, by committing ourselves and our partners to support a so-called 'KinderHaus' project for 25 years. Today, we have 25 PATRIZIA Foundation educational, care and health facilities on four continents. And our ambition is to give one million children and young people worldwide access to education and care by 2030.”

Astrid Gabler, PATRIZIA Foundation Managing Director

Astrid Gabler

2006

PATRIZIA becomes a listed company and a member of the SDAX, Germany’s index for small cap companies, bringing in fresh capital for growth.

“As a leading independent real estate investment manager in Germany we wanted to provide more investment opportunities to our investors and provide greater transparency in what we were doing. This was the key motivation to go public. We have always seen ourselves as a growth company. This move also supports our work on the ‘G’ of ESG. PATRIZIA continuously evolved its business model, to provide more investment opportunities for its clients and generate attractive and stable returns for clients and shareholders.”

Wolfgang Egger

“Our listing is personified by a committed shareholder base who see the opportunity to partner with a strong and stable company focused on long-term investment, making our business model more resilient and targeting recurring management fees for future growth.”

Martin Praum, PATRIZIA CFO

Martin Praum

2016

The company opens its closed-end funds to private clients in Germany, with more than 1,600 investors participating in the first year.

“The next stage of our growth came from the awareness that there was strong interest from private clients to invest in our products in the same way as big financial institutions. The PATRIZIA GrundInvest (PGK) platform has proven to be very successful, with now more than 7,000 private investors and an excellent reputation in our home market.”

Wolfgang Egger

2017/18

Executing on its ambition to become a pan-European investment manager with global reach, PATRIZIA acquires four complementary investment managers: Rockspring (UK), Triuva (Germany), Sparinvest (Denmark) and Kenzo (Japan).

“For us, acquisitions are never about growth for growth’s sake. We always want to provide more attractive investment opportunities for our clients, particularly for our growing number of global institutional investors. They want more choice and a better diversification of their risks. For them, size matters, as does having a stable and reliable partner. Our M&A strategy always followed this approach: complement our portfolio and look for the right business and cultural fit in the right markets.”

Wolfgang Egger

“With these strategic deals PATRIZIA became a leading pan-European real estate investment manager. We significantly strengthened our market position in Europe and gained critical size as a specialised mid-market player, while increasing our international footprint.”

James Muir, PATRIZIA Head of Investment Division and Head of Strategic Investments

James Muir

2019

The establishment of PATRIZIA Japan strengthens PATRIZIA’s visibility in this key market and broadens its institutional client base in Asia-Pacific (APAC).

“We want to attract more institutional investors to PATRIZIA worldwide. Japan is the most developed real estate market in Asia, and we are building our platform in Japan through strategic local partnerships while further expanding our presence in the APAC region. In addition to Tokyo, we now have office locations in Hong Kong, Seoul, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Singapore. Having a presence in both Singapore and Hong Kong means that we are represented in two strategic financial centres in this growth region.”

Wolfgang Egger

"The APAC region is a core pillar of PATRIZIA’s international investment strategy. We now have a strong and very experienced team in APAC across seven offices in the region.”

Thomas Hirschvogel, PATRIZIA Managing Director - Client Division (APAC)

Thomas Hirschvogel

2022

PATRIZIA expands its global infrastructure business to account for 15% of its total AUM following the acquisition of Whitehelm Capital.

“With Whitehelm Capital, we made a strategic move into infrastructure at the right time to become a leading partner for global real assets. This strategic move was instrumental for expanding beyond real estate and attracting more international capital to our growing real estate and infrastructure platform, as well as establishing RE-Infra as a new asset class that leverages the synergies between both.”

Wolfgang Egger

"Joining PATRIZIA was a perfect fit for us from a business and cultural perspective. We were always independent, innovative and entrepreneurial – like PATRIZIA. But PATRIZIA has the international reach and much larger client base to help us scale our infrastructure business. We strongly believe this decade belongs to infrastructure as the dominating megatrends – urbanisation, modern living, digitalisation and the energy transition – are massively driven by infrastructure investments.”

Graham Matthews, PATRIZIA Co-Head Fund Management and Head of Fund Management Infrastructure

Graham Matthews

2024

PATRIZIA celebrates its 40th anniversary, with Wolfgang continuing as Founder and Asoka Wöhrmann as CEO.

“As the Founder, I remain the majority shareholder and a member of the Board of Directors and Group Executive Committee. I will work closely with the senior management team to support PATRIZIA in its next development phase to become the smart real asset investment manager of choice. Looking ahead, I will also dedicate more time to the Foundation and help in providing one million children with access to education and care by 2030.”

Wolfgang Egger

“PATRIZIA is a great company with amazing talent and together with our clients, shareholders and partners, I look forward to shaping the next growth chapter in our 40-year history. Our clear ambition is to become a EUR 100 bn AUM smart real asset investment manager by 2030 by leveraging our strong position in Germany and accelerating growth internationally.”

Asoka Wöhrmann, PATRIZIA CEO

Asoka Wöhrmann

This article is taken from the digital version of our thought leadership magazine, estatements. Take a look at the magazine here: Welcome - estatements magazine Edition 2, 2024

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