IMG eyes second Russia fund

Investment Management Group (IMG), the Russia-focussed firm led by former Morgan Stanley professional Maksim Kunin and Igor Turkin, will continue with its development strategy for a follow-on fund.

Investment Management Group (IMG), the Russia-focused firm, is eyeing a second fundraise next year and will keep its strategy of investing in development projects in the emerging market, the firm said this week.

The Moscow-based company, which is led by former Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing head of Maksim Kunin and Igor Turkin, formerly head of private equity and investment banking operations at Moscow's Alemar Investment Group, said it is starting to consider plans to raise a successor fund to its Russia Development Fund (RDF), which closed to investors in March 2009 on €105 million. Kunin was speaking in the aftermath of the completion of its most recent deal to buy a 27 percent stake in a large-scale residential project in Volgograd, taking RDF close to full investment.

The latest deal involves developing a mixed-use project totaling around 250,000 square meters and built on a 12.4 hectare plot to be constructed over four phases, with completion set for 2018. Construction of the first phase currently is underway and marks the seventh investment made by RDF.

Speaking of the transaction, Kunin said the Russian real estate market continued to offer “unique opportunities to earn attractive risk-adjusted returns” by addressing the fundamental undersupply of property in certain asset classes, such as high-quality affordable housing.

Investors in its first vehicle include Aberdeen Indirect Property Partners II, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Immofinanz.