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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

The TSX Venture Exchange gained 6.56 points to 813.90 Wednesday. Thomas Schwartz and Phillip Burns's capital pool shell, European Commercial Real Estate Ltd. (ERE: $0.20), has completed its qualifying transaction by acquiring a commercial building in Dusseldorf. It paid 11 million euros, financed through a 7.5-million-euro mortgage and cash on hand. The building is 99 per cent occupied.

European Commercial has also closed a $3.1-million private placement of 31 million shares at 10 cents. The largest subscriber, for 15 million shares, was Jeffrey Olin and Frank Mayer's Toronto-based real estate fund manager, Vision Capital Corp. Vision now controls 17 per cent of European Commercial's shares. Mr. Schwartz, who is the founder and president of Canadian Apartment Properties REIT (CAR: $31.63), subscribed for 150,000 shares and now holds 11.6 million (13 per cent). Mr. Burns, who runs a private real estate investment manager in England called Maple Knoll Capital Ltd., subscribed for 250,000 shares and now holds 11.4 million (13 per cent).

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