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McLEAN, VA-JER Partners, the global real estate investment arm of the JE Robert Cos., has named a high profile advisory board to assist the firm with its Latin American initiative. Leading the cast of global business all stars is José María Aznar, the former Prime Minister of Spain.

Other members include Pedro Aspe, principal of Evercore Partners and the former Secretary of Finance of Mexico; Roberto Dañino, deputy chairman and executive director of Hochschild Mining PLC and the former Prime Minister of Peru; Francisco Gros, president, OGX S.A. and the former Head of Brazil's Central Bank, of the Brazilian Development Bank--BNDES, and of Petrobras; James A. Harmon, chairman of Harmon & Co. LLC and former chairman of the US Export-Import Bank; Moisés Naím, editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy, chairman of the Group of Fifty and former Minister of Trade and Industry of Venezuela; Alvaro Saieh Bendeck, chairman of Copesa and a director of the Santiago Stock Exchange; Alejandro Santo Domingo, managing director of Quadrant Capital Advisors Inc.

"We are excited to have such a distinguished group of people advising on our expansion into Latin America, which we believe offers numerous attractive investment opportunities," Joseph E. Robert Jr., chairman and CEO of JER, says in a statement. "All of the members of our board, with their extraordinary backgrounds and wealth of experience, enhance JER's ability to achieve its objectives in Latin America."

JER has made little if any investment in this part of the world--until recently, that is. In June the firm signed an agreement with an Argentine firm--Euromayor S.A. de Inversiones, of the national development firm Ecipsa Group--to make an initial investment of $10 million in the country. In essence, J.E. Robert Cos. became the strategic partner of the Argentine holding company for the expansion of its business. Under the agreement JER has the right to contribute up to a total of $26.3 million at the same per share purchase price paid for the initial $10 million, subject to certain adjustments.

JER's capital contribution will be used to fund Euromayor's current projects as well as any that may be launched during the rest of 2007. Currently the firm is developing Valle Escondido, the first master planned community in the interior of the country; TierrAlta Ecopueblo; Valle del Golf, which include a 27-hole golf course designed by Nicklaus Design, the CasaMagna residential tower development in Mendoza and the housing plan Natania for the middle income segment of the market, which is present in several important Argentine cities. "We are enthusiastic about the real estate opportunities throughout South America," Robert said at the time. Indeed the investment has given rise to industry speculation that JER is in fund-raising mode—again--this time for the Latin American region. Regulations would prohibit the company from discussing any such activities unless the fund had closed. JER did not return comment in time for publication.

JER Partners is clearly in global expansion mode. In June, for example, it and Alfa Capital Partners, a Moscow-based private equity and real estate investment group affiliated with Alfa Group, closed the Marbleton Property Fund, a $321-million equity pool that will focus on investments across all property sectors in Russia and Ukraine. That same month it closed its third European fund, JER Europe Fund III, after having raised $1.1 billion, or €809 million, from investors in Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East. With leverage, the fund's total buying power will be up to $5.4 billion. As with the speculation about its Latin American initiative, JER began making investments with the capital for this fund before it announced the fund's closing. JER Europe Fund III has committed to 13 transactions--one of which had been announced earlier this year. In February, it reported the acquisition of three commercial properties for €18.5 million in the north of Germany from a German mortgage bank. The trade was made in a joint venture with International Property Asset Management GmbH (IPAM), the German-based asset management company, in order to develop a commercial property portfolio in Germany.

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JER's Global Platform Expands to Latin America

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