Orco Property to open new real-estate fund in October

Orco Property Group SA, a real-estate developer that operates in central and eastern Europe, plans to open a new fund with an initial equity target of €100 million ($127 million). The fund for institutional investors will focus on buying, developing and selling „middle-class and luxury residential properties” throughout central Europe, Germany, Croatia and Russia, Luxembourg-based Orco said in a statement last night. The fund will be part of the Endurance fund, which also targets institutional investors and focuses on acquisitions in central Europe. Orco will open the new fund in October, it said. Orco, with properties in the Czech Republic, Germany, Budapest, Moscow and Warsaw, has focused on central and eastern Europe since it entered the region in 1991 to benefit from property prices after the fall of communism. Orco's Senior Vice President Ales Vobruba said in August 28 interview that the new fund should have 300 million euros of assets, including some in Germany. The company's shares fell 0.4% to 2,667 koruna yesterday in Prague. The Czech PX benchmark index dropped 1%. (Bloomberg)