Acquisition of Apartment Portfolio - Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek Provides Counsel on Sale of about 850 Apartments

Joint Press Release of Leuwo Leuna-Wohnungsgesellschaft mbH, WwL Wohnungswirtschaft Leuna GmbH, City of Leuna

Leuwo Leuna-Wohnungsgesellschaft mbH, a subsidiary of THS GmbH, Gelsenkirchen, one of Germany's largest apartment associations, is selling its inventory of apartments at the major refinery and industrial city of Leuna, Saxony-Anhalt, to Wohnungswirtschaft Leuna GmbH (WwL). After the council of the county of Saale granted its approval in the middle of November, the acquisition of about 850 apartments and additional buildings will be completed by the end of 2009.

WwL is 100% owned by the city of Leuna. The acquisition of the portfolio of apartments was prepared and implemented in close coordination with the Leuna city council and administration. The common objective was to transfer the formative inventory for the historical buildings of the "Garden City of Leuna" into public ownership and to develop the city in a sustainable way in the interests of the citizens. The Leuna garden city ensemble, along with Essen's Margarethenhöhe and Dresden-Hellerau is one of Germany's most architecturally significant garden city housing schemes.

"Contrary to the trend over the past few years of selling city-owned apartments, the city of Leuna is taking the opposite course. In this way, it is able to appropriately fulfill its social responsibility in providing housing and have a strong influence on city development," mayor Dr. Dietlind Hagenau explained after the successful conclusion of the negotiations. This is of additional importance in view of the municipality of Leuna, which is to be significantly expanded during the reform of the municipal area in Saxony-Anhalt in 2010.

Dr. Uwe Hölling, owner of Dr. Hölling & Partner Unternehmensberatung, Berlin, and Dr. Peter Kamphausen, Partner at international law firm Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek, Düsseldorf, provided counsel to WwL during the sale negotiations.

Change in ownership will take place on December 31, 2009/January 01, 2010. For the tenants involved, only the name of the landlord will change. The rental terms will remain unaltered. There will be no rent increases. LEUWO will inform all affected tenants of the details during the next few days. Before Christmas, WwL will greet its new tenants in a welcome letter.