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McLEAN, VA-JER Partners, J.E. Robert Cos.' global real estate investment arm, and Alfa Capital Partners, a Moscow-based private equity and real estate investment group affiliated with Alfa Group, have closed the Marbleton Property Fund, a $321-million equity pool that will focus on investments across all property sectors in Russia and Ukraine.

The fund's anchor investor is the multilateral development bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Other participants include institutional and private investors from around the world.

The fund, which will be leveraged by an undisclosed amount, will purchase existing properties as well as develop projects in the area. There are no currently closed transactions in the Marbleton Property Fund, a JER Partners spokesman tells GlobeSt.com, "but there are two deals currently under contract in Russia, which will be announced when they close."

Russia, the Ukraine and other CIS countries are largely regarded as the next lucrative front in international investing of all sorts, real estate included. As is typically the situation in such transactions, the local partner--in this case Marbleton--will source the transactions from its on-the-ground presence. Marbleton has established teams in Moscow and Kiev, which have completed the agreements for transactions in Moscow and St. Petersburg. There are several more transactions under exclusivity, the companies add.

This fund is part of JER's global strategy to invest in emerging real estate markets. Having just closed its third fund for Europe--a $1.1-billion equity pool that will be leveraged to $5.4 billion in total buying power--JER has stated its intentions to look further afield.

"It is JER's intention to be at the forefront of real estate investing," says Joseph E. Robert, Jr., chairman and CEO of the J.E. Robert Cos., in a statement. "The Marbleton Property Fund, a real estate platform in Russia, enables us to expand our activities into a new territory and to continue to build a global brand."

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Erika Morphy

Erika Morphy has been writing about commercial real estate at GlobeSt.com for more than ten years, covering the capital markets, the Mid-Atlantic region and national topics. She's a nerd so favorite examples of the former include accounting standards, Basel III and what Congress is brewing.