Al Badie Group eyes Russia

INTERNATIONAL. Al Badie Group (ABG) Property Development has confirmed plans to attract a broader European customer base, and has confirmed their sponsorship at Russia's leading luxury lifestyle exhibition - Extravaganza Moscow - taking place from 25-27 October.

The UAE has been catching the attention of both Russian tourists and investors alike, and it seems that ABG is now making its move to capitalise on that trend.

HE Mohammed Jo'an Al Badie, President of ABG, commented that the decision to purchase a property, whether for personal or investment purposes, is a rather considerable one to make. "Russia is one of our key markets, and in the last few years, Extravaganza’s visitors in Moscow have expressed increased interest in the investment projects taking place in the Emirates

GE Real Estate Puts $50M Into Heitman

GE Real Estate, the world's biggest publicly traded real estate company, said in a statement Friday that it invested $50 million in Heitman Russia Property Partners, a new fund and its first in the country.

GE Real Estate, based in Norwalk, Connecticut, joins Chicago-based Heitman and two unidentified institutional investors in the fund, which will have $150 million in equity. Heitman will be acting manager of the leveraged fund, which will have a seven-year life.

GE Real Estate Makes Debut Investment in Russia

RUSSIA—GE Real Estate announced today that the company has made its first real estate investment in Russia. The firm has invested $50 million in Heitman Russia Property Partners (HRUPP), a new fund that will have $150 of equity.

Along with GE Real Estate and two other institutional investors, Heitman LLC, acting as manager, is also taking a sponsor equity stake, aligning its interests with those of the other investors.

HRUPP will acquire development and renovation projects in several different real estate sectors, including multifamily. It is expected that HRUPP will commit circa 60 percent of its capital to development projects

Russia's LSR Group Targets Up To $1.4 Billion At IPO

MOSCOW -(Dow Jones)- Russia's LSR Group Wednesday said it plans to float its shares in Moscow and London in a deal that could generate up to $1.4 billion to bolster the company's real estate and building materials businesses.

LSR, which operates in and around the city of St. Petersburg, plans to list 15% of its shares sometime in November, a person familiar with the situation told Dow Jones Newswires.

Banks organizing the offering have valued the company at between $8 billion and $9 billion, implying a deal size of $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion, this person said.

Utopia with no poor people: Moscow's new billionaire's row

With birds twittering gently in the background, Aras Agalarov explains why he has decided to build a housing estate for Russia's super-rich. Next to him work has almost finished on a vast neo-classical villa; down the muddy track a Scottish baronial mansion rises magnificently above a line of newly planted birch trees. "The people who will live here are of normal social status," Mr Agalarov says. "But there are certain rules. One potential buyer had an Afghan shepherd dog. We don't allow big dogs on this estate. So I wouldn't sell him a house.

Real estate tycoon Demján is the richest Hungarian

Most of the richest men in Hungary started to look to the east. The most ambitious plans were conceived by Demján's TriGranit, which has entered virtually every real estate market of the region, including Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia and Croatia. The group is also present in St. Petersburg and Moscow. TriGranit announced in mid-September that it started to realise its heralded EUR 5 billion worth of investments in Russia by purchasing 50% of Russian real estate company Torgoviy Kvartal. TriGranit is owned by Demján, Peter Munk, the Rotschild family and OTP chief Sándor Csányi. The company is currently valued at around EUR 2.5 billion, and ongoing investments in Russia are expected to further increase that value.

Russian Real Estate Grows St. Petersburg & Island New Holland

The island of New Holland in the northeast Russian city of St. Petersburg was created by the convergence of two canals constructed by Peter the Great in 1721. For many years it has stood silent and underutilized, shrouded in mists and secrecy. Now, it is on its way to becoming a major redevelopment story in this historic city. This 18.8 acre mixed-use project will have cultural, retail, hotel and restaurant space and is scheduled for completion in 2010. Russian developer Shalva Chigrinsky is leading the project, and has chosen British architect Lord Norman Foster to create the design for this historic island. At a conference in Moscow, Foster noted that the intent of the design was “to create an urban magnet which will relate to the nearby Marrinsky Theater and the Hermitage, to establish a new cultural quarter of the city.”