GE Real Estate has made its first real estate investment in Russia.
The company has invested $50m (£25m) in Heitman Russia Property Partners, a new, seven-year fund which will have $150m (£75m) of equity.
The other investors are two institutions and the fund manager Heitman itself.
The fund will aim to buy development and refurbishment projects in the retail, office, warehouse and residential sectors, throughout Russia.
Russian developers
It expects to commit 60% of its capital to development projects, in which it will co-invest with local Russian developers.
It will commit the rest of the capital to completed investments.
This new investment extends the relationship between Heitman and GE Real Estate, which previously co-invested in the E50m (£35m) HCEPP I and E50m HCEPP II funds, which own property in the Czech Republic and Poland.
Karim Habra, head of GE Real Estate Central & Eastern Europe, said that working in joint ventures with Russian developers ‘will provide us with an important point of difference to other investors operating within the market’.
