Merryl Lynch gets into Brazilian real estate sector
Valor Econômico - 05/27/2008
American bank Merrill Lynch announces today a partnership with Brazilian MaxCap Real Estate Advisors for real estate investments in Brazil. Each institution shall have 50% of the Brazil Real Estate Holding, an investment fund headquartered in Delaware (USA) that will acquire corporate interests in companies of the Brazilian real estate sector. The value of the fund was not disclosed, but, in Turkey, where Merryl Lynch has a similar channel (Bosphurus Real Estate Fund), the investment capacity of the fund is close to US$ 1 billion. Mark Patterson, global head of business of the real estate market of Merril Lynch, said on an announcement that the initiative shows the commitment of the institution in expanding its presence in Brazil, besides being aligned with the decision of allocation of the capital in the region. The first investments of Brazil Real Estate Holdings are already underway. "We are already negotiating the acquisition of shares in two Brazilian companies", affirms José Paim de Andrade Júnior, president and founder of MaxCap. The names are kept in secret, but Paim says that neither of them is a listed company. One of them is from the residential sector, but does not operate in the low income segment.