Proper actions of high-dimensional groups on complex manifolds

We explicitly classify all pairs $(M,G)$, where $M$ is a connected complex manifold of dimension $n\ge 2$ and $G$ is a connected Lie group acting properly and effectively on $M$ by holomorphic transformations and having dimension $d_G$ satisfying $n^2+2\le d_G<n^2+2n$. These results extend -- in the complex case -- the classical description of manifolds admitting proper actions of groups of sufficiently high dimensions. They also generalize some of the author's earlier work on Kobayashi-hyperbolic manifolds with high-dimensional holomorphic automorphism group.