Sam Zell’s return to Brazil
Chicago entrepreneur Sam Zell surprised the international real estate community this year with an announcement that his privately held Equity International company has acquired an equity interest in Grupo Thá, a 117-year regional homebuilder based in Curitiba located in south Brazil.
Zell’s re-entry into Brazil’s residential sector, after selling its control over the home builder Gafisa in 2011, comes as the country cries for more affordable housing product. The Brazilian homebuilding sector remains attractive with a housing deficit of approximately six million units. This deficit, together with an increasingly populous and prosperous consumer class – since 2003, 40 million people in Brazil entered the middle class – is expected to fuel an increase in demand for housing for the foreseeable future.
Obviously pleased at the timing of the deal, Gary Garrabrant, chief executive officer of Equity International, says, "We are excited to begin the next chapter of homebuilding investment in Brazil”.
Both Garrabrant and Vijay Jayaraman, EI’s senior vice president of investments, will join the company’s board of directors, which also includes Sandro Westphal, chief executive officer of Grupo Thá, and Claudio Tolentino, Meritum Consultores Associados, representing the Thá Family. "We are honored to have EI as a strategic partner in Grupo Thá" said Westphal.
On October 3rd, Vijay Jayaraman and Sandro Westphal will host a case study session at Real Estate Investment World Latin America 2012 conference in Miami, about one of the most promising real estate partnerships in Brazil in the last years. Click here to view the conference agenda.
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Source: World Property Channel
