US-based developer-investor Hines is reportedly close to inking the purchase of two office buildings in Moscow's Metropolis complex from private equity firm Capital Brothers for an estimated $500 mln (€380 mln).
US-based developer-investor Hines is reportedly close to inking the purchase of two office buildings in Moscow's Metropolis complex from private equity firm Capital Brothers for an estimated $500 mln (€380 mln).
According to a news report by Russian paper Vedomosti, the two assets provide a total 56,000 m2 of rental space.
The buildings are part of the 311,000-m2 Metropolis complex, which encompasses three office buildings and a shopping centre in the office corridor connecting Moscow city centre with Sheremtyevo Airport. Completed in 2008, the asset is now fully leased to multinational corporate tenants.
Heitman's fourth value-added fund, Heitman European Property Partners IV (HEPP IV), bought one of the three office buildings in July 2011 from Kazakh developer Capital Partners. The $120 mln acquisition was Heitman's first ever in the Russian property market.
In February last year, Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing set the record for the largest commercial real estate acquisition ever carried out in Russia with its $1.2 bn purchase of the 205,000 m2 shopping centre.
The purchase would be one of the few large transactions closed in Russia this year, after a toxic mix of economic and political factors put a brake on real estate investment activity.
According to broker JLL, only $1.4 bn (just over €1 bn) of transactions took place in Russia in the first six months of 2014, a drop of 59% compared to the same period last year.