PRESS RELEASES

Hines President Jeff Hines attends Russia Calling Conference in Moscow

September 30th, 2009

The company’s President and CEO, Jeff Hines, visited Moscow on September 27 – 30 to attend the Russia Calling Conference in Moscow. Russia Calling was a prestigious event organized by Vneshtorgbank (VTB) with over 1,500 foreign and Russian visitors in attendance. Mr. Hines was invited by Mr. Andrei Kostin, the President of Vneshtorgbank (VTB), to speak on the topic “Real Estate as a Barometer of the Global Economy” during the opening panel session. Mr. Hines was joined on the panel by the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Mr. Vladimir Putin; the Minister of Finance, Mr. Alexei Kudrin; former Chancellor of Germany, Gerhard Schroeder; the First Deputy Chairman of the Russian Central Bank, Mr. Alexei Ulyukayev; and VTB President Mr. Andrei Kostin.

In addition to Prime Minister Putin’s speech, Mr. Hines told the audience of businessmen, investors and politicians that real estate normally functions as a derivative of economic growth and, therefore, usually functions as an accurate barometer of global economic growth. However, Mr. Hines noted that in the years prior to the global economic crisis, real estate asset pricing and speculation instead functioned as the driver of perceived economic growth, therefore no longer functioning as a barometer.

Mr. Hines noted that real estate asset prices were still expected to decline further, but that Hines was nonetheless making investments into the emerging BRIC countries with dedicated investment funds being established or formed for China, Brazil, India and the Russian Federation. Mr. Hines concluded by announcing that the firm was currently in the process of raising a 300 million euro investment fund for real estate acquisitions and developments in the Russian Federation.

Vladimir Putin