The Colonna of Istria have served the Church or the army since 915. He will have inaugurated a new commitment, that of business. Olivier Colonna d'Istria did perform his military service — an obligation that those under 50 cannot know — but in cooperation, in Nouméa. And when he returns to mainland France, the young Sciences Po graduate absolutely wanted to join the most prestigious French investment bank of the time. Paribas. He managed to open the doors of Rue d'Antin through... real estate. “Like many of my contemporaries, I got into real estate by chance. And like most of them, I discovered an exciting sector of activity.” So much so that the young banker resisted the first bitter pill, the privatization of the bank in 1982 by the socialist government of Pierre Mauroy. For ten years, it will finance local developers, starting with the parent company, Cogedim, but also brands that will have diverse fortunes, Sinvim, Kaufman & Broad, Promogim... It was a time of euphoria, sometimes even exuberance, before everything exploded in the early 1990s. Whoever financed growth is called upon to put out the fires. In 1992, he joined the brand new Compagnie Financière de l'Arche, a “toolbox” founded by Bernard Tristan bringing together the real estate gotha of the time (Axa, Auguste-Thouard, barclays, the Crédit Foncier, Les Nouveaux Constructeurs...), which did not withstand the crisis. “My role was to unravel this company”, recalls Olivier Colonna from Istria. A year later, it's at the bedside of Savings banks that he is called. Like all banks of the time, L'Écureuil carried its share of doubtful loans. But its president at the time — Charles Milhaud — did not abdicate on real estate.