Bahrain · Manama Established MMXIV · A Decade of Sovereign Advisory
Viru · Group
Sovereign Advisory · Bahrain
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Practice / Global Real Estate

Two markets, serious.
One acquisition standard.

We buy real estate for principals. Two markets only: the United States and the United Arab Emirates. Each mandate runs from the first conversation through to title, and on into the holding work that comes after closing.

— The Thesis

Two markets, one discipline.

The two markets do not look like siblings. The US is deep, legally settled, priced for institutions, and held in decades. The UAE moves faster, pays sooner, and runs on a development pipeline built around mobile foreign capital. A book that holds both keeps an even keel through cycles in either.

We work for the buyer. We never take a fee from a seller, a developer, or a fund. That is the rule and it is the reason the firm exists in the form it does: a broker would have made a different one.

Most acquisitions sit inside a holding structure we also built. A Sun-Belt multi-family asset under a Bahraini parent, a Dubai branded residence inside an ADGM SPV, a Cayman feeder above a Delaware LP. Real estate and structuring are designed as one conversation, not two.

— Mandate Schedule

What we acquire, and how.

Indicative schedule. Specific mandates are sized to the principal.
Market Asset class Ticket (USD) Vehicle Horizon
United States Multi-family · Sun Belt 5m — 35m Delaware LLC · BVI parent 7 — 12 years
United States Commercial · core+ retail & office 8m — 50m Delaware LP · Cayman feeder 10 — 20 years
United States Legacy single-asset holdings 2m — 15m Trust · LLC sub Generational
United Arab Emirates Off-plan residential · Dubai 1.5m — 8m JAFZA Offshore · personal name 3 — 7 years
United Arab Emirates Yielding residential · Abu Dhabi 2m — 10m ADGM SPV 5 — 10 years
United Arab Emirates Branded residences & trophy 5m — 30m RAK ICC · holding sub 10+ years
— Process

From the first call to closing, and after.

  1. 01
    Mandate
    A private call, held in confidence. We agree the ticket, the market, the horizon, and put it in writing before anyone goes looking for an asset.
  2. 02
    Sourcing
    Off-market opportunities first, on-market where it makes sense. We work through US and UAE counterparties we know by name. If we would not underwrite the asset ourselves, we do not show it.
  3. 03
    Diligence
    Title, structural, environmental, regulatory, cashflow. The local counsel and the engineers do their bit; the firm gathers it into one file and walks the principal through it.
  4. 04
    Structure
    The holding vehicle is drawn alongside the Wealth pillar. We pick the domicile for tax position, for succession, and for what the bank will accept.
  5. 05
    Closing
    Escrow, financing, registration. The principal signs once. The firm runs the chain of counterparties around them.
  6. 06
    After closing
    An annual asset review, refinancing windows when they open, and a sale when the timing favours one. We do not write the mandate to end at completion.
— Selected Mandates

Anonymised, representative.

2019
A Manama family office enters US multi-family.
First-generation Gulf principal. He wanted duration and a currency that was not the dirham, and he wanted residential. We bought a USD 22m garden-style apartment community in a Sun-Belt secondary market, held it in a Delaware LLC under a BVI parent, and walked the family through US beneficial-ownership disclosure with their counsel in Houston.
Sun Belt · 320 unitsBVI / DelawareHeld twelve years
2021
Restructuring a fragmented Dubai portfolio.
A European principal had bought eleven off-plan Dubai units in personal name, across two developers, over three years. We moved the lot into one ADGM SPV, renegotiated handover dates with both developers, and put together the AML file the bank needed. After that, two of the units were refinanced with cash out.
Dubai · 11 unitsADGM SPVRefinanced twice
2023
A trophy acquisition for a multi-generational mandate.
A long-standing principal bought a branded residence on Saadiyat Island. The purchase was part of a plan the family had been working through for some years, and it slotted into an existing trust they already used. UAE counsel handled the freehold registration; we wrote the asset into the family's annual review cycle.
Abu Dhabi · 1 unitTrust · RAK ICC subGenerational
— Operating Channels

Three houses in market. One register.

Dubai · United Arab Emirates
dubaihousemarket.com

The firm's dedicated UAE channel — sourcing and acquisition coverage of off-plan, yielding, and branded residential inventory across Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

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Miami · United States
miamihousemarket.eu

European-facing channel for US residential acquisitions, set up for principals routing capital from the European Union into Miami and the broader Florida coast.

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Türkiye-facing · United States
amerikayatirimi.com

Turkish-language gateway for principals routing capital into US real-estate acquisition, coordinated with the Citizenship pillar for E-2 and EB-5 considerations.

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— A House Note

Of the three things we do, real estate is the slowest. It also happens to be the one where a broker could pass for an advisor, at least for a deal or two. We built the practice on the assumption that the principal can tell the difference.

— Private Inquiry

Begin a confidential conversation about a real-estate mandate.

A first call is held in confidence and is not billed. Most replies go out the next business day.

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