Catella Investment Management
Which capital pathway works for the whole fund?
For our fund, the challenge was not simply how to decarbonize individual buildings. It was understanding which investment pathways best balance financial returns, climate targets, and housing affordability. Optiml helped us compare these trade-offs at portfolio level and make more informed capital allocation decisions.
Our investors need to understand what different strategies mean for the fund as a whole, not only analyze every building individually. With Optiml, we can bring financial and transition scenarios into one portfolio-level view, creating a clearer basis for discussions between investors, fund managers, and asset managers.
The situation
For CER III, the question was larger than which energy efficiency measure to implement at one building. Catella Investment Management (CIM) needed to understand how different transition speeds and capital commitments would affect the fund as a whole. As reported by Immobilien Zeitung, the Article 9 residential fund had three simultaneous objectives: CRREM alignment, investor return expectations, and affordable housing.
Catella European Residential III (CER III) comprised approximately 40 residential buildings across at least ten European countries, according to 2026 reporting. Decision-makers at Catella Investment Management (CIM) were fund and asset managers and the investment team.
The challenge
That meant comparing retrofit scope and sequencing, financial effects, and investment priorities across assets, rather than treating climate and financial plans as disconnected exercises. The relevant alternatives included return-oriented pathways, more extensive decarbonization, and a passive reference scenario. The objective: bring financial returns, CRREM alignment, and housing affordability into a common portfolio-level decision view.
Why a cross-border fund made the decision harder
CER III comprised approximately 40 residential buildings across at least ten European countries according to 2026 reporting. Different building conditions, energy arrangements, and regulatory requirements made it difficult to compare options using only asset-by-asset analysis.
CIM already had building-level ideas and energy audits for nearly all the properties. The challenge was to turn that existing material into consistent, fund-level choices that could be defended in an IC and executed—with the financial and climate consequences made visible for decision-makers.
The country context mattered as well: from energy-purchasing arrangements to photovoltaic participation and fund-specific taxation. These are the kinds of operational and regulatory differences that portfolio decisions must take into account.
The solution
How CIM and Optiml worked together
In November 2025, Optiml publicly announced that CIM had selected REDI for a European real estate portfolio.
The CER III work began with an initial one-to-two-week analysis phase to identify the indicators CIM needed and the data still to be added. Catella teams then integrated building information, reflected CIM’s requirements in the platform, and assessed nearly ten initial scenarios. Three strategies were developed in detail alongside a passive comparison.
The alternatives brought together technical and building-specific measures with capital requirements and fund-level metrics. The comparison included financial outcomes, CRREM alignment, energy and emissions implications, and locally relevant constraints. Rather than suggesting that every building needs the same intervention, the analysis made the consequences of different investment pathways comparable.
The results
The work identified differences of more than 90% in green Capex across the strategy alternatives, for example between a more extensive renovation strategy and an energy efficiency measure-focused approach. The results also allowed to compare maintenance Capex, IRR, value-at-risk measures, and CRREM alignment.
Where the analysis enters the decision process
The results CIM reached by using Optiml’s Real Estate Decision Intelligence (REDI) included financial and CRREM scenarios as structured input for CER III’s annual budget discussions, which involve the asset managers, fund managers, and wider investment team. This connects portfolio-level strategy to the practical cycle of reviewing budgets and options at individual assets.
The published case demonstrates scenario development and reported use in budget discussions. It does not disclose a final approved strategy, the amount of capital ultimately committed, or realized changes in IRR, emissions, or asset values.
Why it worked
Why the case matters for investment managers
For institutional investors, the CER III example illustrates why decarbonization strategy is also a capital-allocation decision. Asset-level evidence matters, but fund teams need to understand which pathway is financially and operationally credible across the portfolio, and what each alternative means for the fund’s objectives.
How to read the figures
The fund scale, scenario information, and governance examples above reflect the three cited publications from 2025–2026. All figures describing strategic pathways are modeled or reported comparisons; they should not be read as audited financial results or evidence of completed building works.
Sources
[S1] immobilienmanager, “Blueprint für Asset Manager” (Best Practice: Optiml), 22 July 2026; last edited 23 July 2026. https://www.immobilienmanager.de/best-practice-optiml-22072026
[S2] Stefan Merkle, Immobilien Zeitung, “Rendite, Klima und Bezahlbarkeit werden datenbasiert gesteuert,” IZ 18/2026, 30 April 2026. https://www.iz.de/innovationen/news/-rendite-klima-und-bezahlbarkeit-werden-datenbasiert-gesteuert-2000043472
[S3] Optiml public announcement, “Optiml Announces New Client Win with Catella Investment Management (CIM)…,” distributed 19 November 2025; syndicated via Yahoo Finance. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/optiml-announces-client-win-catella-155300056.html