Loading ...Article - Zell’s Equity International Seeks to Boost Brazil Investments
July 23 (Bloomberg) - Sam Zell’s Equity International is seeking new real estate-related investments in Brazil, its biggest market, after selling assets in Mexico and Chile.
“Right now some of the most interesting investments in the world are in Brazil,” Chief Strategic Officer Thomas McDonald said today in an interview from Chicago. “We see ourselves making investments in a couple more companies.”
Falling interest rates, political stability and a “solid” currency make Brazil stand out among large emerging markets, McDonald said. His firm’s five investments in the country were worth $718 million as of July 6, or about 56 percent of its global portfolio.
Billionaire Zell founded Equity International, which invests in real estate businesses outside the U.S., in 1999 with Chief Executive Officer Gary Garrabrant.
McDonald, 44, will travel to Brazil next week for board meetings with officials of some of Equity International’s investments in the country, which include builders Gafisa SA and Construtora Tenda SA and BR Malls Participacoes. He’ll also meet with prospective partners to enter the country’s commercial real-estate finance business, he said.
“We are looking at specialty finance in Brazil,” McDonald said. “The macro attraction is that it’s a relatively immature real estate finance business.”
Source: Bloomberg.
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