Bulgaria Looms as the Next Real-Estate Hotspot
`Not Many Avenues’
Russia has also been attracting interest from investors wanting to take a punt on Eastern European property.
This month, Raven Russia Ltd. raised 153 million pounds in an IPO in London to invest in the Russian property market. That followed the listing of Eastern Property Holdings Ltd. in Switzerland in 2003. That company’s share sale produced 50 million Swiss francs ($39.9 million) to put into Russian real estate.
“There’s been a lot of interest in this sector this year,’’ said Terry Olin, a spokesman for Eastern Property Holdings, in a telephone interview. “There are not many avenues for private investors to get into this market.’’
If the Bulgarian and Russian vehicles work, don’t be surprised to see more companies specializing in the rest of emerging Europe.
Each enterprise is tapping slightly different markets, yet all of them are trying to take advantage of the same combination of cheap prices and booming economies.
