The Carlyle Group Seals Second Real Estate Acquisition in Germany

Dusseldorf, Germany - Global private equity firm, The Carlyle Group announced today that it has acquired a commercial building in Dusseldorf for €19.1 million. The 20,000m², 11-story office building has space for 330 cars and was built in 1978.

The building formerly belonged to three German medical institutions: the German Apotheker-und Ärztebank, Kassenärztliche Vereinigung Nordrhein and the Zahnärztekammer Nordrhein. All three institutions will remain as tenants in the building for various lengths of time. The Apotheker-und Ärztebank plans to vacate the space in one year, the Kassenärztliche Vereinigung Nordrhein in two years, and the Zahnärztekammer Nordrhein in 20 years.

Carlyle intends to refurbish and release the office space once Apotheker-und Ärztebank vacate the building. Dr. Wulf Meinel, director of Carlyle Europe Real Estate Partners said, “The building has great potential. When we have completed the refurbishment we will be able to use the existing space more efficiently.”

The Carlyle real estate team will increase its presence in the German real estate market in 2004. The Dusseldorf acquisition is the second property investment in Germany. The first is a 55,000m² office and warehouse building based near Hamburg, which was purchased in October 2001.

Meinel is optimistic that there will be more acquisitions in the next year. “We expect that many large corporations will want to sell off their real estate assets in the next few months to strengthen their balance sheets. Therefore there will be some attractive opportunities to refurbish obsolete buildings.”

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