PRESS RELEASES

O2 Signs Lease at Hines' Uptown München Office Tower

2/6/2006

(MUNICH, GERMANY) — The Munich office of Hines, the international real estate firm, announced today that the telecommunications firm O2 has signed a lease for 538,000 square feet (50,700 square meters) to occupy all available space in Hines’ 38-story Uptown München office tower.  Located along the city’s Mittlerer Ring road, the project consists of a 479-foot (146-meter) tower, the tallest in Bavaria, and four seven-story campus-style buildings.  O2 has also leased three of the four campus buildings, comprising 269,000 square feet (25,600 square meters).  The fourth structure is occupied by Adobe, Business Objects, Grenkeleasing and Heine&Partner, with 43,000 square feet (4,000 square meters) available for lease.

The signature tower, designed by Christoph Ingenhoven, features a sheer glass façade with operable windows on the exterior, and efficiently designed floor plates and systems on the interior, offering a sophisticated platform for the telecommunications firm.

Munich’s Mayor Christian Ude said, “Innovative companies like O2 are critically important for our city to compete as an international business center; tax laws, amenities and real estate are all equally as important in attracting such companies.”

Hines Project Manager Alexander Möll commented, “This is a lease of historic proportions, one which speaks to the long-term quality of Uptown München and the gathering strength of the Munich real estate market.  We are confident in the inherent and enduring value of this investment to the city.”  

O2 was represented by Colliers Property Partners Immobilienkontor Schauer & Schoell in lease negotiations with Hines, the property developer and owner.  Hines Director Karl Franz Wambach noted that the transaction represents the largest speculative office lease in Germany in a decade.

O2 plc has 100% ownership of mobile network operators in three countries - the UK, Germany and Ireland - as well as a leading mobile Internet portal business. All of these businesses are branded as ' O2'. The company also has operations on the Isle of Man (Manx Telecom) and owns Airwave O2 - an advanced, digital emergency communications service. In addition, O2 has established the Tesco Mobile and Tchibo Mobilfunk joint venture businesses in the UK and Germany respectively.  O2 has more than 27 million customers and some 15,000 employees. It reported revenues for the year ended 31 March 2005 of £6.683.  Earlier this year the European Union (EU) approved the Spanish company Telefonica’s takeover of O2 for approximately $31.6 billion (£17.7 billion).

Hines entered the German real estate market in 1991, opening an office in Berlin.  Since then the firm’s portfolio in the capitol city has grown to include: Hofgarten am Gendarmenmarkt, a 645,800-square-foot (60,000-square-meter) mixed-use development, Rosmarin Karree, a 269,000-square-foot (25,000-square-meter) mixed-use development, DZ Bank, a 215,000-square-foot (20,000-square-meter) office project designed by Frank O. Gehry, Alexanderplatz, a development project, and Friedrichstrasse, a development management project.  Other properties include Main Tower, an 893,000-square-foot (83,000-square-meter) office development in Frankfurt, Karlstrasse, a development management project in Munich, and Benrather Karree, a 344,500-square-foot (32,000-square-meter) office development in Düsseldorf.

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