Thursday, April 30, 2009

Moore Cap Eyeing Russia Real Estate

Moore Capital Management has bought up Raven Russia.

The hedge fund Tuesday reported a 5.67% stake in Raven Russia, an investment company specializing in commercial real estate in Russia.

Moore Capital reported its ownership in the company in compliance with the FSA.

In addition to Moore Capital, Lazard Asset Management is an investor in Raven Russia, which is traded on the London Stock Exchange

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Russia real-estate firm Becar buys majority in US Phoenix Industries

Russian real-estate company Becar Realty Group has acquired a majority stake in US food warehouse and distribution Phoenix Industries for an undisclosed sum, SKRIN News reports on Wednesday (22 April 2009).

Phoenix Industries services buildings and facilities of German retailer and wholesaler Metro AG (FRA:MEO).

Sector: Retail/Wholesale/Storage

Type: Majority stake acquisition

Target: Phoenix Industries LLP

Buyer: Becar Realty Group

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Moscow's Property Market Set For A Hard Fall

Somewhat surprisingly to many real estate observers, Moscow has become one of the most expensive cities in the world. While Moscow's real estate market held off longer than most, it appears that the gloom is catching up to the city now, and the aftermath isn't going to be pretty. Overseas Property Mall takes a closer look at the situation brewing in Moscow, Russia in their blog post below.

Moscow investors and banks are playing a deadly game of Russian roulette in a stand-off to see who flinches first as the city’s once booming property market falls to ruins around them.

Billions of rubles are tied up in commercial and residential property portfolios.

Homes, offices and shops are standing empty as rents are unaffordable, new build projects are being canceled, investors can’t refinance and the banks are sitting on a pile of yet to be realized toxic debt.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Moscow Region Prices Hold as City Prices Plummet

For example, a 250-square-meter house 15 kilometers from the Moscow Ring Road on Borovskoye Shosse cost 13 million rubles (now $388,000) in October as well as March. Several sellers redenominated the prices in dollars: A 250-square-meter cottage on the 28th kilometer of Dmitrovskoye Shosse cost 7.8 million rubles (now $233,000) in October and is currently offered for $275,000.

The situation with land is similar. For example, 1,100 square meters on the 12th kilometer of Dmitrovskoye Shosse in a planned village with communication infrastructure has not changed its price of 8.4 million rubles. "I'm not hurrying anyway," the owner said in response to a question about a discount.

Dollar prices have fallen 30 percent to 40 percent since the fall, while ruble prices have only fallen 8 percent to 10 percent, said Ilya Terentyev, director of the Internet portal Zemer.ru. Companies are giving out bigger discounts, but people on the resale market aren't ready to lower prices noticeably.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Moscow international property show

The Moscow International Property Show held last weekend confirmed it's position as the leading event in Russia for International Real Estate developers and agents, as visitors swarmed to this concentrated two day event - the next one is in November...

A total of 173 participating companies from 43 countries ensured an interesting variety for the visitors.

The Moscow International Property Show is somewhat unique in that the organisers feel that they have achieved the perfect size for their exhibition and there are no current plans for expansion. This does lead to limitations on stand sizes (the largest being 12 m2) however it is proving to be a most successful formula for the participants.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Monday, April 13, 2009

Russia St. Petersburg Real Estate Market Big Potential

St. Petersburg, Russia. A substantial increase in the number of visitors at the St. Petersburg International Property Show held 03&04 April, further indicates the potential for International Real Estate sales in Russia’s second largest city.

A total of 5,110 unique visitors visited the St .Petersburg International Property Show held for the second time in the Exhibition Centre of North-West Russia.

“The doors opened and a steady stream of visitors passed through the Registration Desks. Attendance on Friday was good and excellent on Saturday with all participants indicating their satisfaction with the quality and quantity of visitors” – said Kim Waddoup the organiser from the aiGroup.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Cold Shower for a Once-Hot Property Market

We are now months along in Russia's painful readjustment to a new economic reality. This is courtesy of the global economic meltdown, lower commodity prices and the credit market liquidity crunch.Russia appears to be in the middle innings of this humbling downsizing. The country's core metropolitan commercial real estate markets have already been significantly repriced and are about to be restructured.

Property developers' pre-crash boom stories were suspiciously uniform. All were based on severe supply shortages, endless growth in demand and high barriers to entry. These points have now been turned on their heads. The investment story lost its underpinnings to market fundamentals when commercial rents effectively doubled over 18 months in 2007 and 2008, far outstripping growth in underlying demand measured by a host of proxies including growth in per capita gross domestic product, household consumption and investment.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Russia's Sistema sells real estate stake to VTB Bank

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Shares of Russia's Sistema rallied Wednesday after the conglomerate sold a stake in its real estate subsidiary to state-controlled VTB Bank for less than $1 and gave the bank the option to take a controlling stake in the unit.
London-listed shares of Sistema (UK:SSA: news , chart , profile ) soared 11.6% in Wednesday trading.

The deal will be carried out in two stages. In the first stage completed Tuesday, VTB acquired a 19.5% stake in Sistema-Hals for 30 rubles (less than $1) and also received a call option to acquire a further 31.5% stake in the company for 30 rubles, Sistema said in a statement.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Moscow knocked off rich top spot

The number of Russian billionaires fell from 87 to 32, with 27 in Moscow.

It means that New York, with 55 people on the list, has regained the title of billionaire capital of the world from Moscow. London was second with 28.

Russia's richest man, aluminium magnate Oleg Deripaska, saw his fortune plummet from $28bn (£20.3bn) to $3.5bn.

With fortunes falling in Russia and Asia, the US dominated the list of the super-rich.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates regained top spot and Americans made up half of the top 20, compared with only four last year.

Russian Properties News