Brazil’s Richest Man to Expand into the Property Market
It was recently announced that the wealthiest man in Brazil – Eike Batista – will extend the scope of his REX real estate company (part of the EBX group), with an initial focus in the state of Rio de Janeiro.
The company was created in 2008 to search for opportunities throughout the country and already possesses over 22 million square metres of land in the states of Rio de Janeiro, Ceará and Santa Catarina. REX will officially begin operating in three areas of activity: real estate construction / incorporation, urbanisation programmes and income generational property-related projects.
REX business plans are focused in regions where EBX already have projects established or underway and, according to CEO Marco Adnet, will have an underlying objective of adhering to sustainable concepts that reflect quality and efficiency. One project to be commenced shortly will be located in the region surrounding the EBX groups’ industrial port complex in Açu, São João da Barra (in the north of Rio de Janeiro state) – which will see the creation of a large scale sustainable housing complex that is estimated to be able to serve up to 250 thousand people.
The group have also approached executive director of one of Brazil’s leading developers – Rossi Residential – to assist, of which the outcome of talks is yet to be confirmed.
Recently referred to by Money Week as a ‘class A Brazilian eccentric’ Eike Batista possesses the highest net worth in Brazil (eight in the world) and his founded several companies, mainly related to mining. His father, Eliezer Batista da Silva, is director of Brazil’s prominent mining company Vale.
