Investing in the neighborhood

Investment fund KBC TFI is launching a new investment offer focused on investments in the real-estate market. The KBC Index Nieruchomoœci II (Real Estate Index II) will invest in financial instruments, the price of which is based on EPRA (European Public Real Estate Association) Index of more than 100 European companies from the construction and real-estate sectors. The EPRA index grew 46 percent last year, 22 percent in 2005 and 36 percent in 2004.

"This is a very attractive and safe investment," said Piotr Dec, the head of KBC TFI's product development team.

Dec also underlined that the fund is a capital protection investment fund, meaning that the investor is guaranteed to at least break even. The capital protection is guaranteed by Brussels-based KBC Bank.

Why European real estate? Dec underlined that the market in Western Europe has been growing quickly recently. "We are also witnessing the awakening of the market in Germany," Dec said. Another factor is the situation on the US market. "We have many reservations towards the US market," Dec said. He underlined that commercial real-estate market looks favorable, but the residential sector "doesn't look promising."

This is not the first investment fund in KBC TFI's portfolio to focus on real estate. KBC Index Nieruchomoœci (Real-Estate Index) FIZ invests in the real-estate sector in Poland. Its return on interest was nearly 47 percent in the first 18 months after it was established in November 2005. A second fund, KBC Index Œwiatowych Nieruchomoœci (Global Real-Estate Index) TFI, invests not only in companies present on European stock exchanges, but also in companies present on Asian markets. This fund was launched last September and its return on interest so far amounts to around 20 percent.