Sam Zell to broaden Brazil investments-report
Reuters, Sept 16, 2009
SAO PAULO, Sept 16 (Reuters) - American billionaire Sam Zell's investment fund plans to expand its investments in Brazil to commercial property, farms, industrial warehouses and infrastructure and logistics in coming years, Valor Economico said on Wednesday.
Privately held Equity International is also looking for strategic partners to sell structured financial instruments using residential real estate assets as collateral, Thomas McDonald, a director for the fund and a close aide to Zell, told Valor in an interview.
"We do mid- and long-term investments and we have plans to do about three new investments in the country," McDonald told Valor, adding that one of them could take place this year.
McDonald added that the 2010 general election in Brazil was unlikely to derail or delay government plans to build 1 million low-income homes, Valor said.
Zell's fund is a major shareholder in home-building giant Gafisa, Brazil's second-largest listed real estate company. Equity International began investing in Latin American real estate companies following its 2002 foray into Mexico's Homex, a developer of single-family starter homes.