Sergei Pugachev, the main beneficiary of Russia’s MEJPROMBANK, has found a partner for real estate projects. Together with a leading international investment bank MEJPROMBANK is to form a $1.0 billion real estate fund. According to the newspaper, MERRILL LYNCH will most likely partner with Pugachev. Counting credit resources, the new fund may have up to $3.0b for real estate investments, market operators estimate. A Western partner will help the fund create a good image. Meanwhile, the UNITED INDUSTRIAL CORPORTAION (OPK), which is incorporated in the MEJPROMBANK group and is in charge of industrial and investment projects, knows the Russian market well and has administrative resources and ’an excellent project portfolio’, experts say. The OPK portfolio is currently estimated at 3.5 million sq m. The most ambitious project is the development of the Baltiisky Zavod area on St. Petersburg’s Vasilevsky Ostrov (island), where 2.2 million sq m of housing and infrastructure are to be built. The OPK portfolio also includes the Kremlin Centre renovation project on Moscow’s Red Square.
Source: VEDOMOSTI, June 27, 2007
