NEW FRUIT AND VEGETABLE MARKET IN MILAN

SOGEMI LAUNCHES INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION OF IDEAS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW FRUIT AND VEGETABLE MARKET IN MILAN

With a turnover of more than € 1 billion in the ortomercato, which employs more than 9,000 people, is the first employer of Milan.
The project, which will be presented during Expo 2015, will relaunch a structure that dates back to 1960 and will be done at no cost to the City of Milan.

Milan, October 31, 2014 - Sogemi, Society for the plant and the Financial Markets Annonari Wholesale Milan, today launched an international ideas competition for the redevelopment of the Fruit and Vegetable Market in Milan. The competition is the first step in a process that will lead to the creation of the new fruit and vegetable market in Milan.

Italy is the leading European producer of fruit and vegetables and the Vegetable Market of Milan is the largest wholesale market of the country in which it is moved 10% of the merchandise that passes total in all Italian fruit and vegetable markets.

Failure to modernize facilities, which date back to 1960, is one of the main reasons that led, over the years, a reduction in the role of the market in Milan at the European level, a leader in the '80s.

The Wholesale Market in Milan has to change radically to meet the demands of a market undergoing profound changes, in terms of sales volumes, differentiation of products and services, quality levels. Through the implementation of the new structure will be able to revive the Vegetable Market which, in addition to being the first employer of Milan, has a key role in enhancing the supply chain of local markets that leverage the trust relationship with the end customer and that, compared GDO, ensure greater capacity of choice and quality for the consumer. The new facility will be located in the same area in order to fully exploit the neighbors and strategic transport networks and proximity to the city center.

"Presenting the winning design during Expo 2015 - says Nicholas Dubini, CEO of Sogemi - exploit a unique opportunity to propose to the global market as' food reference for Southern Europe and Central Eastern Europe. The basic idea is to create a structure that makes permanent the guiding values that inspired Expo 2015, which have always been a key resource not only for Milan but for the whole country. "

"For fifteen years - concludes Dubini - spoke of the need to modernize a market that was being marginalized because of the non-competitiveness of the structure and, last May when I agreed to take on the role of CEO of Sogemi, I put the first point of the new management to achieve this goal. Today, thanks to the efforts of the City which included the strategic importance of this structure, we have started the journey to build a new market, which will bring benefits in terms of cost and efficiency, increasing the competitiveness and profitability of operators and generating new employment. "

CONTEST OF IDEAS

The project of development of the new market will allow you to build a new structure for wholesale responsive to the expectations of the operators are able to compete in world markets. The project will not only cover the architectural aspects, participants should propose ideas and solutions functional, organizational and operational for the development of the new geography of the relationship between food production and the market, taking into account the growing importance of issues such as "short chain" and logistics solutions and techniques aimed at maintaining the "cold chain".

The competition is designed to assess the best project both from a technical and architectural, energy and environmental and organizational, both its economic and financial sustainability so that it can compete with the most advanced equivalents, domestic and foreign. Assumptions of the transaction are on one hand the involvement of highly qualified individuals for their industry experience and expertise and the absence of other economic and financial commitments by the City of Milan. It will be guaranteed to maintain full operation of the market during the development phases of the redevelopment project.

The overall project is a prerequisite to a reorganization of existing areas occupied by the fruit and vegetable market by providing for the allocation of a part of these new general market for the wholesale fruit and vegetable market and a part to functional activities, complementary and not competitive to the enhancement activity typical of the markets and the general planning of the area.

THE PROJECT FINANCING

The implementation of the intervention will be subject to obtaining private capital through the process of project financing.

This means that the investor will realize and fully fund the entire project.

The management of the wholesale fruit and vegetable market will be held by the Sogemi while managing the designated area for other activities will be the responsibility of the private entity identified by public tender for a number of years just to return to sustained investment.

The property areas will remain in the Municipality of Milan that this will enhance the grant of the lease.

THE MILESTONES OF THE PROJECT

The international contest is the start of a process, since tight, divided into five main stages:

1. International competition (October 2015 - January 2015);
2. Finding the winning design solution and development of a feasibility study (February-April 2015);
3. Presentation of Feasibility Study in the City Council and its approval (April-May 2015);
4. Participation in Expo 2015 (May 2015);
5. Start of the procedure and award of project financing for the design, construction, operation and financing of the project (June 2015 - April 2016).

The ortomercato MILAN: SOME NUMBERS

Operating since 1965, the Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Market in Milan is Italy's largest quantity of products sold, or 10% of the goods passing total in all the Italian wholesale fruit and vegetable markets.

°           BUSINESS VOLUME GENERATED: € 1,000 million

°           QUANTITIES SOLD: 6 million tons / year

°           EXPORT: 30%

°           WHOLESALERS WITH POINT OF SALE: 122

°           PRODUCERS WITH POINT OF SALE: 124

°           CATCHMENT AREA PRIMARY: 10 million people

°           VEHICLE INPUT: 200/400 per day

°           EMPLOYEES: 9,000 per day

The tender documents and any information relating to the competition of ideas in speech can be found on the corporate website of the Company www.mercatimilano.com the section "Tenders".

For more information:

Ad Hoc Communication Advisors

George Zambeletti (Tel 02 7606741)

Ivan Barbieri (Cell 335.1415581; ivan.barbieri@ahca.it )

Nicholas Demos (Cell 335.1415583; demos.nicola@ahca.it )