As Russia's property firms struggle to meet debt repayments, veteran Russian investors are sizing up their portfolios and getting ready to commit scarce cash to new distressed real estate funds.
Four Moscow-based investment managers interviewed by Reuters said they were lining up $1.1 billion in total to pick off high end real estate as Moscow's devastated white-collar businesses seek more modest rents and developers fail to refinance debt.
"Everybody else has lost faith in Russia, but I was here through the last crisis. And if we get in at this point of the market, it is perfect timing. Absolutely perfect," said Holger Mueller, managing director of real estate at UFG Asset Management.
UFG raised $148 million for its second real estate fund, attracted by the opportunities in distressed assets, in June and is planning a second closing in March.
