Global Financial Management founder Christopher Pace is currently in Buenos Aires to oversee the finishing touches being made to three luxury apartments which are to be put on the market soon, Ian Zammit, president of the group's property division, tells The Sunday Times.
The designer apartments in a historical building in the heart of the Argentinian capital have appreciated by at least 40 per cent since the group acquired them two years ago.
Mr Zammit has good reason to be pleased with the performance of the investment so far - the apartments are among the 'jewels' in a portfolio of handpicked local and overseas property registering good returns.
Global Capital's property division was set up just after Globe Financial Management merged with British American Insurance in 2003 to form Global Capital. Like Mr Pace, Mr Zammit, an insurer by profession, had been investing in property for years. The company decided the time was right to set up a property arm within the life, investment and insurance group.
"The division would take advantage of cash generated throughout the group: from the life company, the investment company, and from the shareholders who have cash in the company," Mr Zammit explains.
"In accordance with the investment mix agreed with our actuary and in line with regulations - there are limits on how much a life company can invest in property - we set about looking at properties locally and overseas. Over the past five years, we have diversified and created a balanced mix, mostly of properties which are rented out, offering a good yield for the life company. Then, with shareholders' funds, we ventured into more speculative investments: buying properties and developing them, and buying others to hold - stock in waiting, so to speak."
Overseas, Global Capital has clinched some particularly interesting properties. One of the larger, long-term investments is the 12th century Castello Baronale di Colalto Sabino, sitting on a 24,000-square metre footprint 1,000 metres up in the mountains 50 kilometres outside Rome.
Acquired a few years ago, Mr Zammit says the listed property, originally owned by a nephew of one of the popes, has appreciated threefold. The castle is complete with taverna, ballroom, moat, prison, nearby lake, stunning views and chequered history.
Beneath the castle lies a little village, a borgo, adjacent to which Global Capital has acquired land to develop 30 to 40 residential units which will blend with the surroundings.
In Bulgaria, Global Capital first acquired a penthouse in Varna before buying into a block on Sofia Boulevard which Mr Zammit says are 90 per cent rented out and giving "very good returns as well". In Barcelona, the company owns property just off Las Ramblas which is also contracted out on long let.
Mr Zammit describes the 5,000-square metre site acquired by the group on Croatia's Brac Island as "an interesting find". Situated on the island just opposite Split, 63 units designed by a Maltese firm of architects which has set up an office in Croatia, will be sunset-facing and among the most desirable in the area. Urban planning permission is pending, and Global Capital expects the project to take off in 2010 in time for Croatia's accession to the European Union.
Meanwhile, the group has made returns of over 100 per cent on property acquired in Dubai in 2004 and sold by last December - almost perfect timing, as property prices in the emirate began to fall. Three properties on Palm Jumeirah, the first of the Palm islands to be completed, were sold just three months after acquisition. Three others on Dubai Marina were held to completion and sold.
In Malta, shareholders' funds were invested in a site in Għargħur which Mr Zammit says made a healthy profit, an eight-storey block of apartments in Tigné Street which are practically all sold, and another block of four apartments in Swieqi.
A corner site in Madliena on which 14 highly finished apartments and two penthouses are earmarked, has been completed to basement level. Enjoying "superb" views of the coast and Gozo, the project is expected to be complete in shell form by the end of 2009.
After acquiring 120, The Strand, and later some floors 114, The Strand, all of which generate considerable rental income, Global Capital has submitted a planning application to develop apartments and a penthouse at 165, The Strand.
Rental income will continue to increase once the 2,700-square metre office block on the former Dun car showroom site in Testaferrata Street is completed in early 2010. The group is awaiting planning permission for a mirror property earmarked for the opposite side of the street after two years of property acquisitions there.
The group will continue to spearhead the regeneration of the Gżira marina area with its most ambitious project yet - Metropolis, the €80 million three-tower, 7,000-square metre project in which it has over 43 per cent shareholding. A mix of one-, two-, three- and four-bedroomed apart-ments, duplex loft style units, sky villas and duplex penthouses, all enjoying large terraces, make up Metropolis' residential floors.
"Metropolis was a very long and winding process," Mr Zammit explains, outlining the project that has demanded considerable tenacity on the investors' part.
"Acquiring the land took about three to four years of negotiating with the previous owners. We have a vision for the regeneration of Gżira.
"What most people don't realise about Gzira is that, because it is on a hill, there is an amazing view from the sixth floor upwards.
"The apartments all start at the sixth floor. Underneath, there will be a double height of commercial centre, and two floors of offices, to a total of 4,500 square metres."
Residents and commercial tenants will have the services of a separate concierge. The towers will overlook a 3,500-square metre commercially active plaza that will face a very different Testaferrata Street by the time the project is completed.
Buyers seem to have shared the investors' confidence in Metropolis and Mr Zammit says Phase One was sold within 10 minutes of an online launch. Private commercial publications and annual financial reports have even featured the concept and artist's impressions of Metropolis - the development permit for which is pending, but in its final stages.
"We obtained the outline development permits, Special Designated Area (SDA) status, and permits to demolish and excavate, and those phases are complete. The moment we get the green light, we are all set to go."
Global Capital reported a half-year loss of €4.3 million, down from a profit of €906,000 for the corresponding period in 2007. Excluding fair valuations, revaluations, tax and impairment charges, the net loss was €1.5 million for the first half of 2008.
In November, chief executive officer Nicholas Portelli said the group's portfolio was down by under 10 per cent "despite the upheaval on the international markets".