Kazakhstani company M Holding Ltd. is going to buy the trading and entertainment center Metropolis in Moscow. The Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia has already approved the deal, noting that it won’t affect the commercial property market in the country.
M Holding Ltd. was established in Astana in July 2022 and is controlled by Capital Partners, one of the biggest development companies in Kazakhstan. The current head of M Holding Ltd. is Erzhan Tsenov, a prominent manager in Kazakhstan. Over many years, he worked as executive director in different companies, including Capital Tower Development and Esentai Tower Investments.
The Metropolis complex near Voykovskaya metro station includes a trading and shopping center of 205,000 square meters and three office buildings. The complex was built by Capital Partners in 2009. In 2013, the trading center was acquired by Morgan Stanley for $1.2 billion, a record-high figure for the Russian commercial real estate market at the time. In the same year, Morgan Stanley sold half of the building to American developer Hines.
Over the period from 2015 to 2018, Hines and Czech PPF Real Estate bought all three towers of the business center. In May 2022, PPF Group decided to leave Russia. The group sold 49.5% of its Russian Home Credit Bank to Ivan Tyryshkin and other investors.
American owners also decided to sell Metropolis. They asked for the center about $1.5 billion. However, they granted quite a big discount later on.
Capital Partners is controlled by Kazakhstani businessman Serikzhan Zhumashev and Turkish citizen Burak Oymen. Apart from Metropolis in Moscow, the holding has implemented a set of projects including Esentai Mall, Esentai Tower, and AFD and CDC business centers in Almaty.
