Samvel S. Karapetyan, Personality of the Year At MAPIC 2012

PARIS, Sept. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- MAPIC today announces that Samvel Sarkisovitch Karapetyan, chairman and founder of the Russian Tashir Group of companies, has been chosen as the 2012 'Personality of the Year,' as part of the 'Russia Country of Honour' programme. Taking place in Cannes, November 14-16, MAPIC is organised by Reed MIDEM, a division of Reed Exhibitions.

A key player in retail real estate in Russia, Samvel S. Karapetyan will receive this award at the MAPIC Awards ceremony to be held at the Hotel Martinez in Cannes at 8pm on Thursday, 15 November.

Samvel S. Karapetyan started his career in the real estate sector in 1998 by managing a shopping centre project. His chairmanship of  OJSC Kalugaglavsnab, a supplier of equipment linked to construction materials, became the foundation of the Tashir Group in 1999. Five years after its creation, the Group made its mark in the Moscow real estate market by launching six projects totalling over 600,000 m². Since then, the Group has developed several million square meters of real estate projects across Russia. Today nearly 50% of its property portfolio are located in Moscow.

In 2012, the Tashir Group has carried out 13 real estate projects and by the end of the year will have delivered nearly two million square meters of buildings. The Group has built its success by combining a number of different business lines and skills into the real estate value chain. These range from supplying materials, to a brokerage firm, and are all integrated into a complementary mix of activities. 

"We wanted to reward Samvel Sarkisovitch Karapetyan by selecting him as MAPIC 2012 Personality of the Year due to his dynamism in turning the Group Tashir into one of the key players in the Russian real estate market in just a few years, especially in the Moscow property market," comments Nathalie Depetro, Director of MAPIC.

This distinction for the founder of the Tashir Group is part of MAPIC's celebration of Russia. Since 2010, Russia has become a highly-attractive country for investors and will be hosting a number of international sporting events, including the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which is expected to boost its dynamic real estate market. Today Russia is home to the largest number of projects in European retail real estate, according to a 2011 report by Cushman and Wakefield, which found that 35% of retailers in the EMEA plan to expand to Russia ( CBRE How active are retailers in EMEA, 2011 ).

About Tashir Group

Founded by Samvel S. Karapetyan, Tashir Group incorporates more than 200 companies operating in various sectors and employs over 45,000 people. The Group is mainly active in real estate development, with over 60 current projects in retail real estate, offices, hotels and warehouses.

The Tashir Group also owns 25 shopping centres, mostly developed under the Rio brand and located in cities such as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaluga, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Orel and Yaroslavl. Around 11 shopping centres are currently under development in Russia. The Tashir Group is also actively tracking opportunities for attractive investment assets, especially in Moscow.

About MAPIC

MAPIC brings together the key players in retail real estate such as retailers, retail outlets and property developers, local and regional authorities and investors. During three days, over 2,400 retailers attending MAPIC will come to Cannes (France) to select the best development sites in shopping centres, city centres, transit zones and other locations. This year 8,500 participants from 65 countries are expected to attend.

For editors:

Founded in 1963, Reed MIDEM is a leading organiser of professional, international tradeshows. Reed MIDEM events have established themselves as key dates in professional diaries. The company hosts MIPTV, MIPDOC, MIPCOM, and MIPJUNIOR for the television and digital content industries, MIDEM for music professionals, MIPIM, MIPIM Asia  and MAPIC for the property and retail real estate sectors.

Reed MIDEM is a division of Reed Exhibitions, the world's leading events organizer, with over 500 events in 39 countries. In 2011 Reed brought together six million active event participants from around the world generating billions of dollars in business. Today Reed events are held throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Africa and organized by 33 fully staffed offices. Reed Exhibitions serves 44 industry sectors with trade and consumer events and is part of the Reed Elsevier Group plc, a world-leading publisher and information provider and a FTSE 100 company.

www.mapic.com

SOURCE Reed MIDEM