Themis Real Estate SICAV

What is a SICAV?

A SICAV is an SA which gives investors the status of shareholders. Investor shareholders therefore have the right to examine and vote at the shareholders’ meetings and they can influence the course of the business. It is this active and participatory aspect, which does not exist in the context of an investment fund, that we wanted to focus on in our relations with investors.
Alongside the investors is the entrepreneurial shareholder, who holds responsibility and exerts influence on SICAV management. The fund management company and the custodian bank are fully accountable to investors.
To date, out of 73 real estate funds authorized by the FINMA, only 11 have been set up in the form of SICAVs.

Themis Real Estate SICAV is authorised by the FINMA, as well as the manager Themis Capital SA.

Organigram and partners

Board of directors Themis Real Estate SICAV

Me Laurent Schenk

Chairperson of the Board of Directors

Attorney-at-law Mr Laurent Schenk has been a notary public in Nyon since 1996. In this function he works as a director of companies in management or in other real estate sectors, with the exception of brokerage. He is also Chairperson of the Board of Directors of a cooperative company aiming to operate a port for small inland waterway boats. Attorney-at-law Mr Schenk is also member of the board of the PROFMED & PROLIBERA employee pension fund and has been a member of the support association of Hospitals in the Western Lake Geneva Area.

Me Fernand Mariétan

Vice-President of the Board of Directors

Attorney-at-law Mr Fernand Mariétan has been a notary public and attorney at law since 1981. He has been President of GESSIMO SA in Monthey and Director of different companies, most especially of Banque Cantonale du Valais in Sion. He is also member of the Foundation Boards of Greenbrix Investment Foundation in Geneva and Prisma Investment Foundation in Morges, both of which have real estate investment groups in Switzerland. In the scope of his mandates, Attorney-at-law Mr Marietan, as director, has high supervisory tasks of activities delegated to the management of the collective investments of capital supervised by the FINMA.

Juan Pedro Iglesias Lemos

Member of the Board of Directors

Architect working internationally, Juan Iglesias stated his career in 1999 in Japan at NK Kouenten in Tokyo, where he stayed for 6 years, during which he realised a certain number of anti-earthquake projects, in particular for the Japanese leader of construction. He also won the 1st prize of the Urban Tokyo competition.
Back in Switzerland in 2006, he participated in numerous projects, among which in the United Arab Emirates (villas, hotels and schools), in the Seychelles, in Spain and of course in Switzerland with the realisation of several important projects for Swiss institutional investors. In 2018, he joined the company CBRE Genève SA as Director – Building Consultancy where he participates in numerous important projects in Geneva, in the cantons of Vaud and Valais.

Yann Tavernier

Member of the Board of Directors

Entrepreneur Yann Tavernier has more than 20 years’ experience as manager, director and investor in enterprises active in real estate and private equity. In addition, through his professional experience, he has acquired strong management skills, which have permitted him to work also as a consultant to investors, enabling him to create asset allocation strategies. As a consequence, he has restructured, optimised and arbitrated enterprises in private equity as well as real estate stocks. He has assisted investors during real estate transactions, real estate developments and promotions, both in Switzerland as well as abroad. He has acquired experience in the development of commercial properties in urban areas and outlying suburbs.
His experience and his vision of real estate have led him to found the Themis Group and create Themis Capital and Themis Real Estate SICAV.

Approach

Our values

Themis Real Estate SICAV is built on the basis of Themis Capital SA‘s values:

Bolstered by its values, Themis Capital and Themis Real Estate SICAV put together a team of real estate, private equity and asset management professionals. Our specialities have led us to develop a vision of real estate, which we would like to share and which requires us to invest on a larger scale. This is how the idea of creating a real estate SICAV and a manager of collective assets arose.

Themis Capital SA and Themis Real Estate SICAV have been authorized by the Swiss Financial Supervisory Authority FINMA on June 4, 2020.

Our values are structured around 3 S:

Stakeholder, Societal and Social

integrating the ESG criteria

Environmental, Social and of Governance

The 3S

Stakeholder
The creation of Themis Capital SA was motivated by the desire to create a SICAV, Themis Real Estate SICAV. We have chosen the SICAV model, and not the investment fund model, as the SICAV’s investors are shareholders and therefore have a right to monitor and vote in the shareholders’ meeting. They are stakeholders and can influence the course of business, which gives them the opportunity to have an active and participatory role.

Societal
Real estate has a major role to play in the evolution of the society. A forward-looking vision of the company’s developments and needs will permit the portfolio to be positioned favourably for the future. The environmental and governance aspects are an integral part of the societal aspect and are taken into account at their fair and high value in all of the Themis Capital SA’s functioning processes.

Social
The main household expense today is allocated for accommodation. One of our fundamental values is taking everybody’s right to have the best quality accommodation possible into account.

The ESG criteria

Environmental
The enterprise’s direct or indirect impact on the environment in its investments as well as in the management and the development of its portfolio.

Social
In keeping with our vision of the 3S, the direct or indirect impact of the enterprise’s activity on the stakeholders (in particular staff members, clients, suppliers and local communities) is related to the universal values of respect, appreciation and loyalty.

Governance
Governance focuses on the manner in which the enterprise is directed, administrated and controlled (relations with shareholders, its Board of Directors and its management, transparency of the remuneration of its directors, the fight against corruption).

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Philosophy of the sub-fund Themis Property I

TRES sub-fund TP1 has delegated the management to Themis Capital SA. Its objective is to provide a regular return to its investors through dynamic and creative management, in particular through

  • Retaining tenants by providing them with something more than just a home in return for rent.

  • An entrepreneurial approach through the effective use of digital tools (Prop Tech).

  • A proactive approach to anticipate structural changes in the market (e.g. the impact of Covid-19 will change the organisation of work and society).

  • A proactive orientation towards renewable energies and energy efficiency in order to make the portfolio’s assets less energy intensive and thus move towards the zero emission target by 2030 set by the Federal Council.

The aim of this approach is to keep people at the centre of our concerns.

Investment strategy

Teleworking is becoming more widespread and should become a habit. This is generating a rapid shift of interest from the population to housing located outside the major urban centres, closer to nature but with easy access to public transport.

The aim is to maintain the substance of the investments over the long term and to distribute regular income to investors, with a target gross yield of over 4%.

The properties may be residential, commercial or mixed use. A minimum of 60% of the assets will be invested in residential properties and a maximum of 40% in commercial properties.

The strategy of the Themis Property 1 sub-fund of the SICAV is based on two axes:

Traditional acquisitions and contributions in kind (asset-swaps).

Traditional acquisition

The traditional acquisitions will constitute a portfolio mainly made up of human-sized properties, from 4 to 10 flats and worth between CHF 1 and 10 million. The geographical areas sought are suburban centres with more than 3,000 inhabitants and good transport links, or urban centres offering opportunities. French-speaking Switzerland will be favoured, but a geographical diversification towards German-speaking Switzerland will bring stability to the portfolio.

Jointly owned property may be acquired provided that the SICAV is the majority owner.

Contributions in kind (asset-swaps)

Asset-swaps allow for the integration of larger properties. The advantages for the real estate investor are detailed in the dedicated paragraph below.
The real estate investor has the possibility of integrating the SICAV through an asset-swap (full or fractional asset-swap):

Asset-Swap Schéma Themis Real Estate SICAV

The main advantages of asset-swap are:

  • Tax and asset optimisation (succession)

  • Professional property management and economies of scale

  • Diversification and better risk spreading

  • Regulatory oversight (manager and SICAV)

Benefits of the investment strategy

  • The size of the targeted properties is too small for institutional investors and too large for most private investors. This market niche is therefore less competitive to buy. In addition, these properties are generally well maintained and less expensive in terms of charges.

  • This category of property often offers tenants cheaper than average rents, making them more attractive and less likely to be badly affected in a market downturn.

  • The liquidity of the Themis Property 1 sub-fund is facilitated by the large number of small properties, making it possible to meet a possible redemption request without unbalancing the portfolio by selling a property representing a large proportion of the investments..

  • The composition of the initial portfolio is more balanced, thus providing a better spread of risk and ensuring more liquidity for investors.

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Dynamic real estate management

Active management of the properties is implemented to both improve their attractiveness and retain tenants, as well as to increase their long-term value in the interest of investors.

Themis Capital SA intends to make maximum use of Prop Tech’s remote management tools. Thanks in particular to sensors installed in the buildings, it is possible to monitor consumption and the life of objects as closely as possible, and thus to better plan future investments.

In order to better anticipate demands and changes in these, Themis Capital SA maintains direct contact with the tenants, thus playing the role of a super-management. A proactive sustainable approach is implemented to integrate environmental and social aspects into all processes.