Obelisk International is a private investment company specialising in UK land, and investments in Brazil, with offices in Spain, Brazil and the UK. The company’s investments in Brazil are property-based and include social housing within the Minha Casa Minha Vida programme. All investments are located in north east Brazil within the state of Rio Grande do Norte, whose capital is Natal, Rio Grande do Norte. The company also offers the purchase of urban land sites in the UK.
History
Obelisk International was founded in 2006 as a company dealing in investments, particularly in real estate, in emerging markets around the world. In the late ’00s, business activity became focused on Brazil, one of the four BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) forecast by Goldman Sachs to become the world’s largest economies.
In late 2009, Obelisk International joined the Brazilian government’s social housing programme, known as Minha Casa Minha Vida (My House, My Life), which aims to build 3 million residential properties in Brazil by the end of 2014. The first phase, completed at the end of 2010, had a budget of R$34 billion to build 1 million low-cost homes. The second phase, launched in March 2010, aims to build a further 2 million homes.
The programme was intended to substantially reduce the housing deficit among low-income Brazilians, particularly among those earning up to three times the minimum wage (R$545).