MSREF VII, Redos acquire 23 retail assets in Bavaria

Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund VII Global (MSREF VII) and Redos Real Estate announced on Friday that they have jointly acquired a portfolio of 23 retail properties mostly in Bavaria from a group of private investors. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

The Bavaria portfolio comprises 23 retail properties, particularly self-service hypermarkets, mostly in Bavaria. It comprises over 200,000 m² of rented area and a total plot area of more than 500,000 m².

'We are pleased to have completed this transaction with Redos,' said Thomas Hartl, Country Head for Real Estate Investing in Germany at Morgan Stanley. 'The joint venture combines the local retail know-how of Redos with the financial strength and global expertise of Morgan
Stanley Real Estate Investing. We consider retail in Germany a very attractive asset class and are looking forward to working together on further deals.'

The transaction was executed through a joint venture between Redos Real Estate and MSREF VII. The joint venture targets investments in specialist store centers and self-service department stores and plans to invest several hundred million euros in retail properties in
Germany over the next two to three years. Target investments under consideration are assets with long-term leases
but also properties with investment and optimization potential.

Hamburg-based Redos is one of the leading investors, project developers and asset managers of the German retail property
market. It many years of expertise in this sector, not only pertaining to the development but also to the optimization of retail
properties, the company said in a press release.

'We are happy that we have won a financially sound partner with Morgan Stanley in order to acquire promising properties on a large scale,' says Oliver Herrmann, Managing Director of Redos. 'Particularly in the current situation, there are many excellent opportunities to be found all over Germany.'

Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing is one of the largest real estate investment managers globally. Since 1991, it has acquired $173.7 bn of real estate assets worldwide and currently manages $59.5 bn in real estate assets on behalf of its clients. MSREF VII, which closed in May 2010 with
US$4.7 bn, is one of the largest real estate funds raised since 2008 and aims to invest in real estate worldwide.