Deutsche Bank invests in Bulgarian real estate

Deutsche Bank is investing in Bulgarian real estate via RREEF, the real estate and infrastructure investment management arm of Deutsche Asset Management, which the global investment management business of Deutsche Bank.

RREEF has formed a joint venture company with Winslow Developments Ltd to develop real estate projects in Bulgaria. RREEF’s partnership with Winslow represents its first investment in Bulgaria.

The joint venture company will be 88% owned by an investment fund managed by RREEF and 12% by Winslow. Winslow will act as the operating partner. Winslow Developments is a local Bulgarian developer that has been active in the market since 2001 with several successful projects in the Bankso ski resort area.

It is expected that the joint venture company will initially focus on the residential sector in Sofia, although it may expand to commercial sectors as well as to other parts of Bulgaria.

The joint venture company has already underwritten its first two investments both of which are residential developments in Sofia with a projected 700 apartment units. RREEF’s total equity commitment for these first two projects will amount to approximately EUR 10 mln.

Pierre Cherki, a managing director of RREEF said of the investment: “Our partnership with Winslow represents a solid first step into the promising Bulgaria housing real estate market and provides RREEF with an excellent platform to respond to other opportunities as they arise in the Bulgarian market.”

With established joint venture investments in Russia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Poland, Mr. Cherki also commented that RREEF’s investment in Bulgaria would reinforce RREEF’s position as a leading real estate investor in Central and Eastern Europe’s emerging economies.

The group has EUR 53 bln in assets under management worldwide as of March 31, 2006.