Macquarie Real Estate Hires CMBS Executives To Develop Real Estate Capital Markets Platform

17 October 2007

CHICAGO – October 17, 2007 – Macquarie Real Estate, a diversified international provider of specialist real estate services, has hired several experienced Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities (CMBS) executives to help develop a real estate capital markets platform in the United States.

Stephen Girdis, Global Head of Real Estate, said, “We are excited about extending our existing real estate operations in North America by developing a conduit lending business based in Chicago.  The experience of these five seasoned professionals will help us extend our global real estate platform and will allow us to take advantage of opportunities arising from the credit market disruption in the U.S.”

Executive Director Nate Stearns will lead the new operation.  He is joined by Division Directors Andy Reiken, Don Spalding, Jim Porch and Joel Margolies.  Reiken and Margolies will co-head the capital markets desk.  Spalding will head up originations, and Porch will lead risk management and serve as chief operating officer.  Stearns will report to Grant Munro, Head of Real Estate Structured Finance.  The executives will be based in Chicago, and Munro will relocate from Sydney, Australia, to Chicago to assist in the establishment and integration of the platform as part of Macquarie.

The new personnel have a wealth of market knowledge and industry expertise, most recently with LaSalle Bank, N.A. where they oversaw LaSalle’s CMBS platform.  Prior to LaSalle, they collectively participated in key transactions with the likes of Bear Stearns, GE Capital, Goldman, Sachs & Co., JP Morgan Mortgage Capital, Morgan Stanley, New York Life, and Nomura Securities.

Macquarie Real Estate is the real estate arm of Macquarie Group.  It conducts a diverse international business through various Group subsidiary companies, with a unique blend of real estate and financial expertise across a number of locations and products.  The business specializes in the sponsorship, establishment and management of real estate investment trusts around the world.

Macquarie adds capital markets capabilities to its real estate operations with the new addition of the new hires.  The loans generated by the new conduit lending team will be originated through the Chicago Representative Office of Macquarie Bank Limited and booked by the Bank at its headquarters in Sydney, Australia.  While the main focus of the real estate capital markets team will be to develop an origination platform for CMBS, it will also assist in building out a fully integrated real estate platform across Macquarie’s various areas of real estate expertise aimed at exploiting the most efficient sources of capital in the marketplace.

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Macquarie:
The Macquarie Group (Macquarie) is a diversified international provider of specialist financial services.  We focus on areas of business where our particular skills and expertise deliver a real advantage for clients, concentrating resources where we can add the most value.  We have established leading positions in a diverse range of market segments and regions internationally.  Macquarie has been active in the Americas for more than a decade and has more than 1200 employees in 23 locations across three countries.  Our activities in the Americas are complemented by the resources of Macquarie's international network of 12,000 people in 24 countries.

About Macquarie Real Estate:
Macquarie Real Estate is the real estate arm of Macquarie.  More than $21.4 billion of real estate assets are managed globally by Macquarie Real Estate and its associates across a portfolio of listed and unlisted property trusts, unlisted development funds and property investment syndicates.  Macquarie's real estate investment management expertise has been recognized internationally, voted No. 1 in Investment Management in Asia, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and the U.S. in the 2007 Euromoney Liquid Real Estate Awards.

About Macquarie Real Estate Structured Finance:
Macquarie Real Estate Structured Finance (RESF) is a Division of Macquarie Real Estate Group.  It originates real estate development and investment opportunities for debt and equity funding in project risk and profit sharing structures for its own account, its clients, partners and investors.  RESF has been operating in Australia for 25 years, North America for seven years and in Europe for three years.