Goldman buys in Russia

Goldman Sachs is buying a residential community built for wealthy expats in Moscow through a mixture of funds.

The Goldman Sachs sponsored Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds has invested in a residential community in Moscow from AIG European Real Estate Partners, part of AIG Global Real Estate and Deutsche Bank.

The community, Pokrovsky Hills, is set in 9.2 hectares in the north-west of the city with 207 luxury townhouses occupying the site. According to property services firm Jones Lang LaSalle, which advised the sellers, Pokovsky is occupied by expatriates and diplomats. Government embassies occupy more than 20 percent of the complex. No financial details were disclosed.

Goldman is buying the residential development through a mixture of a Goldman Sachs subsidiary, investment funds sponsored and managed by Goldman Sachs, the Goldman Sachs Developing Markets Real Estate Fund and the Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds. Goldman Sachs represented itself in the transaction.

Goldman's most recent fund was the $4.8 billion (€3 billion) Whitehall Global in 2007. Also last year it closed a developing markets real estate fund on $2.1 billion.