The Carlyle Group Acquires Large Site in Montrouge, Near Paris for €175 Million

Paris, France - Global private equity firm The Carlyle Group today announces the acquisition of a large site in Montrouge, Paris for €175 million from Schlumberger. The investment has been made through Carlyle Europe Real Estate Partners, the European real estate fund managed by The Carlyle Group.

The acquired site is in Montrouge, an area where many blue chip companies are based, and is very close to Paris city centre. The site has over 12 existing buildings of 70,000 square metres, the majority of which is office space, with some additional underground storage space. The acquired site has an attractive layout, with a water feature, landscaped gardens, parking space, restaurant and a central forum for conferences and activities. Carlyle plans to refurbish and renovate the buildings substantially over the next two years if and when tenants vacate the properties. Carlyle also plans to develop new buildings as office and residential.

"The Montrouge acquisition is a fantastic site in a great location. We see a lot of potential in improving the whole site through extensive refurbishments and developments, and believe that it will become a very attractive site for corporate tenants as well as residential," said Marc Demumieux, Director, The Carlyle Group.

To date, the Carlyle Europe Real Estate Partners fund, with €430 million under management, has invested in more than 280 properties in France, Germany, Italy and the U.K., and in three development projects in Denmark, France and Scotland, and two large Italian portfolios. In total Carlyle has made investments in a total area of 1,000,000sqm and total investment value of over €1 billion. In March 2005, Carlyle acquired a property in central Hamburg, Gänsemarkt 45, and in November 2004 Carlyle announced the acquisition of the San Paolo portfolio of 230 properties in Italy for €325 million. The fund has deal teams with local experience based across Europe who identify growth potential in their investments and take a proactive asset management approach to add value through development and refurbishment in well-established markets.

"This is one of our largest investments in European real estate, and one where we are following our strategy of investing locally in regions we know well, in an area with great potential. We are looking forward to a busy year ahead with an improving market in many of our core regions. We are also looking to expand our focus to include hotels and residential, as well as office and retail," said Eric Sasson, Managing Director and Fund Manager, The Carlyle Group.

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