Fibra gets itself together and structures projects in real estate sector
Valor Econômico 03/24/2009
In more than 50 years since its foundation, the Vicunha group accumulated a considerable real estate asset - valuable land adjacent to São Paulo and to cities of the interior of the state that amount to nearly 9 million square meters and a constructive potential of more than R$ 1 billion (US$ 434.8 million). Such assets have become the raw-material for the new company of the group, Fibra Experts. Born as a real estate arm of Banco Fibra, for one year the company has been assembling its team with professionals from the sector and structuring new projects. Fibra Experts intends to work in the residential, commercial and real estate development areas - a great part of the land used for such purpose, located in cities like Americana, Bragança Paulista and Itatiba, have come from the assets of the Vicunha group. In order to manage the company, the Steinbruch family chose Fernando Kenworthy, who worked at Rossi for 15 years and handled the residential area of Tishman in Brazil.
According to Kenworthy, the company is already involved in nearly 20 projects, which would have a building potential, referred to as GSV (general sales value), estimated at R$ 3 billion (US$ 1.3 billion). The idea is not to directly compete with large companies, but develop project by project and count on the partnership of investors. Neither will Fibra Experts follow the model of companies that focus on the income from the lease of the portfolio. The residential area is the main business: it is responsible for 45% of the projects; the commercial projects are responsible for 20%; and land development, 35%. Land development will be used both for industrial and residential projects. In the residential projects of land development, the idea is to develop the infrastructure in the land and build houses and buildings for the low income class, precisely the model benefited by the Federal Government subsidies in the housing package. Even in smaller land lots, outside the real estate development projects, the priority in the residential area - as it is in the entire market - is to give priority the low income segment.