Isaura Daniel*
isaura.daniel@anba.com.br
São Paulo – Investors from the Middle East are going to have their capital applied in Brazilian real estate projects. Tishman Speyer, a company based in the United States that owns operations in Brazil, recently raised 1.2 billion reals (US$ 666 million) in funds to invest in the real estate market in Brazil. According to a press release issued by the company, the amount includes funds from 27 investors from different nationalities, including Arab ones.
The capital comes from public and private pension funds, corporations, insurance companies, banks, governments and natural persons from the United States, Europe, Asia, South America and the Middle East. Tishman should invest the funds in acquisitions, development and modernisation of offices, residential condominiums and multipurpose complexes. The company is going to seek investment opportunities in the cities of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte (in southeastern Brazil), Salvador (NE), Brasília (MW) and Porto Alegre (S).
The money will be invested within a two-year period, and some of the projects in which the funds will be applied have already been defined. Those include the acquisition of the Sul América building, in downtown Rio de Janeiro, for which a modernisation project is being developed. Three commercial enterprises in São Paulo, in the Alphaville neighbourhood, and on Faria Lima and Luis Carlos Berrini avenues, plus three residential projects totalling 4,000 apartments should also be invested in.
Tishman Speyer already has investment of 1.5 billion reals (US$ 830 million) in Brazil, in three office projects, namely Landmark and Rochaverá Corportate Towers, in São Paulo, and the Ventura Corporate Towers, in Rio de Janeiro, as well as six other residential projects under construction in the city of São Paulo. In 1997, the company set up its first private fund and to date has already created 13 funds focussing on the real-estate market. Up to now, a total of US$ 8.4 billion have been raised from 130 private and institutional investors.
The 1.2-billion-real fund, called Tishman Speyer Brazil Fund, is the first fund established by the company exclusively turned to the Brazilian real estate market. The company president in Brazil, Daniel Citron, stated that the funds were raised despite the subprime (high risk credit) crisis in the United States and shows foreign investor confidence in Brazil and in the business model adopted by the company worldwide.
According to information disclosed by the company, the Brazil Fund raised more money than expected. Over double the funds expected were raised. "During the process of presentation to investors, we noticed that we had the chance of collecting even more. But we closed the process to start the phase of effective search of opportunities," stated Citron, according to a press statement.
Tishman Speyer is headquartered in New York, in the United States, and has offices in another 15 cities. It is one of the largest real estate developers in the world and currently owns or manages 72 million square metres. The total covers 115 business or mixed-use buildings and around 89,000 houses.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum and Mark Ament
