Seoul, April 5, 2006 – The Macquarie Group (Macquarie) and Macquarie Global Property Advisors (MGPA), a private equity real estate fund advisory company, announced today that they have signed a binding commitment to acquire an office development in Seoul for US$125.8 million.

The building will be acquired in a 50:50 joint venture between Macquarie and MGPA’s MGP Fund II. The property will be acquired upon completion of the building and land consolidation (subject to conditions precedent being met), which is scheduled for March 2007.

The building will be a 19-storey Grade A office tower, with a gross floor area of 34,173 square meters located near the Seoul City Hall in the Chung-gu Central Business District of Seoul.

Nick Ridgewell, Managing Director of Macquarie Real Estate Asia, said: “We are delighted to announce this acquisition, which represents an expansion of Macquarie’s property management business in the sought-after Korean market. This investment offers a rare opportunity to buy a new Grade A building in Seoul’s Central Business District.”

MGPA, Managing Director, Simon Treacy said: “This is an exciting investment opportunity for the Fund. We see excellent potential for this property given that the continual improvement of Korea’s economy is underpinning growth in the office market.”

“Chung-gu in the CBD is a prime location, with strong rental growth due to limited supply of prime office space and low vacancy rates of less than 5%. We expect supply to get tighter next year.

“We continue to eye further acquisitions in the Korean real estate market where we see excellent potential for investments that will maximise our returns for investors,” Mr Treacy said.

MGPA’s investment in this property follows its acquisition of two others last week, a 34-storey office and retail building in Hong Kong and a portfolio of eight office and logistics properties across Europe. Both investments were made on behalf of MGP Fund II which closed in September with commitments of US$1.3 billion. 

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