Plaza Centers has announced that, Elbit Plaza USA, a new real estate investment joint venture with its parent company, Elbit Imaging, has entered into a framework and co-investment agreement with Eastgate Property to take advantage of real estate opportunities in the US. The new fund will primarily focus on the retail sector.
Plaza Centers has announced that, Elbit Plaza USA, a new real estate investment joint venture with its parent company, Elbit Imaging, has entered into a framework and co-investment agreement with Eastgate Property to take advantage of real estate opportunities in the US. The new fund will primarily focus on the retail sector.
Under the terms of the new strategic joint venture, Elbit Plaza USA and Eastgate have jointly committed to invest a total of US$200 mln (EUR 145.9 mln) in one or more dedicated US real estate investment platforms, which will focus on investments in the US commercial real estate sector. Elbit Plaza USA's investment into the fund, totalling US$100 mln, will be invested by Plaza and Elbit in equal shares.
The fund will seek to identify potential investments and make both direct purchases and enter into joint ventures with local business partners over a two- year acquisition period. Once assets have been acquired, Elbit and Plaza will use their extensive experience in the retail sector to undertake asset management initiatives to maximise income and capital value growth from the properties, with the objective of selling the assets and dissolving the fund within a five to-seven year period from the initial closing of the Fund.
In addition, Plaza has confirmed the appointment of Alex Berman as chief executive officer of Elbit Plaza USA. He will be responsible for Elbit Plaza USA’s strategy, investment activities and operations
Eastgate is an affiliate of NCH Capital, an established US based international real estate fund manager with over $3 bn of capital under management. Eastgate will take an active role in the joint management of the fund utilising its extensive experience of fund management and capital raising activities in the US.
Ran Shtarkman, President and CEO of Plaza Centers, said: 'The $100 mln capital commitment by Eastgate, a well respected real estate investor with an impressive track record, clearly demonstrates its confidence in our ability to create value for our shareholders by acquiring attractively priced assets in the US. We continue to seek to raise further equity from investors and have seen strong interest from a number of international institutions, as we aim to reach a target of US$400 mln of committed equity.'
