OREANDA-NEWS. The Marbleton Property Fund, co-sponsored byJER Partners (JER) and Alfa Capital Partners (ACP), has formed a joint venture with Storm Properties to develop a 100,000 sq. m. suburban office park onthe outskirts of Moscow. The joint venture recently acquired a 9 hectare land plot for the project.

According to the Alfa Group press-service, JER is a global real estate investment arm of the J.E. Robert Companies. ACP is a Moscow-based private equity and real estate investment group affiliated with Alfa Group Consortium. Storm Properties is a PIK Group's company, a leadingMoscow-based residential real estate development company with listing in London and Moscow.

The US$321 million Marbleton Property Fund had its final closing in mid June 2007 and focuses on investments across all property sectors in Russia, Ukraine and the CIS and purchases existing properties as well as participates in their development. The Marbleton Property Fund benefits from JER's 26 years of experience in investing and managing real estate combined with ACP's and Alfa Groups wide network of relationships, and its extensive local market knowledge and investment expertise.

Storm Properties offers a full range of development, investment and asset management services. Currently, Storm Properties has approximately 450,000 sq. m. under development. At the end of August, a 50%+1 share of the company was acquired by PIK Group.

Malcolm Le May, President at JER Partners, commented: "We strongly believe that this transaction offers an opportunity to capitalise on the supply and demand imbalance for high quality office space in Moscow in general and a trend toward more efficient and less expensive space outside of the city limits."

Richard Sobel, Chief Investment Officer of Alfa Capital Partners, said: "We are delighted to have Storm Properties as our partner in this highly attractive deal.They are clearly one of the best-in-class development companies. A combination of their outstanding market knowledge, their local relationships, their experienced team and their track record in the business park development make them an extremely valuable partner for us."

Michael Belton, President of Storm Properties, added: "We are excited to work with the Marbleton Property Fund to be able to combine our knowledge of the local real estate market with the international pedigree of the Marbleton team."