Qatar takes full control of prime Milan development

Qatar's sovereign fund has acquired full ownership of Milan's most important business district after buying out other shareholders, property group Hines Italia announced Friday.
The Qatar Investment Authority has owned 40 percent of the Porta Nuova business district since 2013.
Hines, insurer Unipol and several investment funds were among the selling shareholders in a 25-building development conservatively valued at more than two billion euros ($2.2 billion).
Hines boss Manfredi Catella would not disclose how much the Qataris had paid but hailed their willingness to splash out as "an extremely positive signal for Italy in terms of the attractiveness of the country."
The district of Porta Nuova, which takes its name from an early 19th Century Napoleonic gate, was subject to one of the most ambitious programmes of urban regeneration ever undertaken within the historic centre of a major European city.
It is home to a number of landmark buildings including the headquarters of Italian bank Unicredit and the "Bosco Verticale" (Vertical Forest), a complex of two award-winning residential skyscrapers.