The Carlyle Group Acquires Prime Development Site in Dusseldorf, Germany

Frankfurt - The Carlyle Group, the global private equity firm, today announces the acquisition of a prime development site in the city center of Dusseldorf from DEKA ImmobilienFonds, an open-ended fund owned by DEKA Bank.

The site is located in Cecilienallee 6-9 in the city centre of Dusseldorf. The building currently occupying the plot has a lettable area of approximately 8,400m2. Carlyle Europe Real Estate (CERE) plans to demolish the existing structure following the end of all tenancies for the building in August 2009 and will then construct a new modern office building with roughly 14,000 m2. An architectural competition for the new project had been carried out by DEKA in close cooperation with the City of Dusseldorf prior to the purchase. The winner was the Hamburg-based German architect André Poitiers. CERE will base its project on his design.

Dr. Wulf Meinel, Managing Director, The Carlyle Group, comments: “We are very pleased that we were able to acquire this excellent development site in a very attractive location facing the Rhine River in Dusseldorf. As the region is one of the economically strongest and most stable in Germany we are confident that we can take advantage of the good prospects for redevelopment. This investment is totally in line with our strategy of identifying attractive properties with significant upside potential from demolishing existing outdated buildings and developing modern, state-of-the-art premises in strong local markets.”

Due diligence and legal advice was conducted by law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, Frankfurt. The financing was undertaken by NordLB.

The three Carlyle Europe Real Estate Partners funds have invested in office, retail and logistic real estate portfolios with a square footage of about 600,000 m2 in Germany. The investments include, amongst others, Gänsemarkt 45, Freshfields-Haus and BrahmsQuartier in Hamburg, the Versatel building in Stuttgart and Lindenpark in Hannover.

The third European real estate fund, Carlyle Europe Real Estate Partners III (CEREP III) was recently closed at €2.2 billion. With leverage, the pan-European team of 46 people will have maximum funds of approximately €9 billion to invest. The Carlyle Group now manages $11 billion in ten real estate funds across the world, including €3.4 billion of assets under management in Europe.

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