ROME: Italy’s Borromeo family is listing its real estate holdings including a group of islands on Lake Maggiore as it seeks to turn the area into a tourism and business hub to rival nearby Lake Como.
They plan to use proceeds from the listing of Kaleon SpA, originally founded in 1983 to manage the family estates at the lake in northern Italy, to develop the area and transform their business into a platform to oversee other historic and artistic sites in Italy and elsewhere.
“Lake Maggiore is little known abroad,” said Giberto Borromeo, Kaleon’s vice-chairman and head of business development.
“We haven’t had George Clooney buying a villa, or Villa d’Este, as at Lake Como.”
But Borromeo insists the location is just as promising. “What is missing is a luxury hospitality hub,” he said.
Kaleon shares were €4 on Nov 27, giving the company a market capitalisation of €56.5mil (US$66mil).
Private equity firm Investindustrial, led by Andrea Bonomi, will act as anchor investor and retain a minority stake in the company.
Borromeo said Kaleon is in discussions with owners of other historic sites in the Veneto region and in Switzerland, without providing more details.
“We seek owners of heritage assets to offer our services, and we want to be able to do so through a listed company whose ownership and financials are public, so our solidity is proven,” Borromeo said.
Families that own castles, villas or parks will have the option of becoming shareholders of Kaleon, he added.
The Borromeos, among Italy’s oldest aristocratic families, started to acquire land in the Lake Maggiore area around six hundred years ago.
Ancestors include Charles Borromeo, who served as Archibishop of Milan in the 16th century and was made a saint.
Vitaliano VI Borromeo is considered the mastermind behind the palace and the Baroque-style garden of Isola Bella, one of the islands in the archipelago. Last summer, the Borromeos restored the Cannero Castles on Lake Maggiore, close to the border with Switzerland, after the ruins had been left idle for 500 years. — Bloomberg
