Inversiones y Representaciones S.A.

IRSA Inversiones y Representaciones S.A.

Type	Public
Traded as	: IRS : IRSA MERVAL component
Industry	Real estate
Founded	June 23, 1943
Headquarters	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Key people	Eduardo Elsztain (Chairman and CEO)
Services	Real estate development Mortgage lending Corporate finance Tourism Land rental
Revenue	US$ 381 million
Total assets	US$ 1.3 billion (6/2009)
Website	www.irsa.com.ar

Inversiones y Representaciones Sociedad Anónima (IRSA) is the leading real estate development firm in Argentina. It's controlled by Cresud S.A. (NASDAQ:CRESY) in a 64%.

IRSA (Investments and Brokerage, Inc.) was founded as a realty by Eduardo Elsztain, an Argentine Jewish immigrant, in 1943. The small independent realty, based in Buenos Aires, grew slowly and, as late as 1991, had a book value of around US$120,000. That year, the firm was purchased by a partnership composed of Marcelo Mindlin and Eduardo Elsztain, the founder's grandson, who had recently obtained support from international financier George Soros.

The partnership with Soros became profitable for both parties, as the Argentine economy recovered during the 1990s from the severe stagflation of the previous decade. IRSA entered the international equity markets with Soros' backing in 1994, raising US$110 million, and purchased three Buenos Aires office buildings and a leading local shopping mall developer, Alto Palermo S.A. (APSA), in 1996. The firm's APSA unit later purchased Buenos Aires Design, Galerías Pacífico, Patio Bullrich, Patio Olmos, and a number of other leading Argentine shopping centers, as well as important tourist assets such as the Llao Llao Hotel, a Bariloche mountain resort privatized in 1997. The following year, the firm redeveloped the historic Abasto de Buenos Aires, a landmark Art Deco former wholesale market. The firm, by then, also owned 13 of the most important commercial office buildings in Buenos Aires, enjoying occupancy rates of 97%, and some of the city's highest rents.

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