Turkish company establishes 400-mln-euro investment fund with Germany’s Bilfinger

Company representatives were quoted by Reuters as saying the fund would mainly focus on mall and industrial facility investments.

“For the initial stage, we have prioritized mall and industrial facility investments. We want to expand our product portfolio and financial volume in the upcoming period. We will also establish separate funds with different strategies,” said Bilfinger Real Estate Turkey investment department manager Selim Şahin, as quoted by Reuters.

Şahin noted that Bilfinger would not position itself as an investor, as the company has an extensive customer base from banks and insurance companies to retirement funds and real estate investment funds, and it will act as an intermediary for the inflow of new funds into Turkey by utilizing this base.

He said the fund will buy a 100 percent of stake in a functioning mall.

“We may also make investment in the properties owned by the companies which take place in the top 100 or 200 companies in the Istanbul Chamber of Industry. We will then sell these properties and adopt a re-rental model,” added Şahin.

Global MD Portfolio Management Chair Gaye Braida Fernandez said the newly established fund will be a “ceiling fund,” which will create a base for various other funds with different strategies.

“The real estate sector has been one of the motor forces of the Turkish economy. European investors who see the opportunities see [it as] more rational to enter the market via the instruments of the experienced companies, like Bilfinger, rather than directly by themselves. The cooperation we have been announcing today was a natural result of this approach,” she noted.

Fernandez noted that Global MD Portfolio Management agreed with Mazaya Qatar to launch a $250-million fund in the previous months in a bid to lure more Middle Eastern capital to Turkey, adding that they were waiting for approval from authorities.

The Bilfinger real estate group runs a 54-million-euro asset base and has a 53-million-square-meter field investment, according to data provided during the meeting. Bilfinger now manages more than 150 funds, mainly in Europe.