Heitman creates 175m euro real estate fund

US-based real estate firm Heitman LLC announced on Thursday that the first round of money raising for a fund that will invest in Eastern European assets had raised 175 million euros ($224.3 million), according to Reuters. A number of US-based, European and Asian funds have recently announced their plans to invest in Central and Eastern Europe, including Romania, considering these markets very promising. The Heitman Europe Property Partners III Fund (HEP III) is the company’s third investment fund and holds assets in retail, residential and office properties in Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Baltic States and Romania and Bulgaria. “The fund will have a total buying power of 1 billion euros,” Heitman officials say. They went on to say that the investors would include European pension funds and insurance companies. The fund aims to attract a further 175 million euros of capital before closing to new investors in 12 months. “As with the other two funds before it, HEP III will pursue opportunities that generate added value,” said Chris Merrill, the company’s investment director. “We have already identified concrete investment opportunities for HEP III,” Merrill added. ZF