Press releases - 2008

Aberdeen Asset Management PLC (‘Aberdeen’ or ‘the Group’) announces that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Credit Suisse Group AG (‘Credit Suisse’) to acquire certain fund management assets and businesses (‘the Acquired Business’) (‘the Acquisition’), subject to shareholder and certain regulatory approvals.

Aberdeen believes that 2009 will be another extremely tough year for investors, but that market anomalies will continue to offer long-term opportunities.

BNP Paribas Real Estate Property Management has become the market leader in Belgium with the acquisition of Aberdeen Property Investors Belgium. This acquisition means that BNP Paribas Real Estate now has more than 2.2 million sq m of commercial real estate under management.

Aberdeen Property Investors UK Limited has appointed M J Mapp LLP to act as managing agent for a number of its clients’ portfolios. The appointment involved 30 Aberdeen Property Investors members of staff, who were previously providing an in-house property management function, transferring to M J Mapp.

DEGI Deutsche Gesellschaft für Immobilienfonds mbH, part of Aberdeen Property Investors, has suspended the redemption of shares for the funds DEGI EUROPA and DEGI INTERNATIONAL with immediate effect.

The Aberdeen European Balanced Property Fund has acquired a prime logistics property, near Helsinki-Vantaa airport, from EKE Group.

Aberdeen was named Property Manager of the Year at the prestigious Financial News Pan-European Awards for Excellence in Institutional Asset Management, on 15 October.

Aberdeen Property Investors (“Aberdeen”) is pleased to announce that it won the award for Leading Investment Manager for the Nordic & Baltic region for the fourth consecutive year as well as Leading Property Manager for the Nordic & Baltic region at Euromoney’s new Liquid Real Estate Awards. Aberdeen also won the Investment Management award for Denmark, Sweden and Norway and the Property Management award for Finland and Norway. These awards confirm Aberdeen’s position as the leading property investment manager in the Nordic region.

Aberdeen Asset Management PLC ('Aberdeen' or the 'Company') announces that it has entered into a business and capital alliance with Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation (‘MUTB’).

Following the acquisitions of DEGI and Goodman Property Investors (GPI) earlier this year, Aberdeen Property Investors is pleased to announce the senior management team of the combined businesses.

EU is sole tenant of acquired office complex in heart of Brussels
DEGI, part of Aberdeen Property Investors, has recently acquired “Espace Orban”, a fully let office complex in Brussels, for an investment volume of around EUR 90 million. The properties have been purchased indirectly through property companies and will be added to the DEGI INTERNATIONAL open-ended real estate fund, which focuses on global commercial properties. The seller is General Electric Real Estate France.

DEGI funds extends its engagement in Eastern Europe
Following two purchasing phases in the last months, DEGI, part of Aberdeen Property Investors, has acquired further buildings in “The Park”, a business park complex in Prague. This brings the total investment volume in the business park to around 400 million euros. The properties have been purchased indirectly through property companies and will be added to several open-ended property funds managed by DEGI.

DEGI, part of Aberdeen Property Investors, has completed its first investment in Japan by signing the sales contract for the fully let retail property “La Porte Shinsaibashi” in Osaka. The property, purchased indirectly through a real estate company for 90 million euros, will be added to the DEGI INTERNATIONAL open-ended property fund, which focuses on commercial properties worldwide.

DEGI, part of Aberdeen Property Investors, has strengthened its position in Eastern Europe by signing a sales contract for the “Marynarska Business Park” in Warsaw for 167 million euros. The property has been acquired indirectly by a real estate company and will be added to the DEGI INTERNATIONAL open-ended property mutual fund, which focuses on international commercial property. The seller is the international project developer Ghelamco.

DEGI EUROPE RETAIL purchases building in Zeil, Frankfurt’s main retail street.
DEGI has acquired the fully let commercial building, Zeil 127, in Frankfurt am Main for over 30 million euros. The property was sold by Nassauische Sparkasse (NASPA), which will remain in the building as a long-term tenant. DEGI was advised in this transaction by Kempers Jones Lang LaSalle Frankfurt.

DEGI, part of Aberdeen Property Investors, has completed its second investment in Prague by signing the purchase agreement for the fully let mixed-use complex “Andel Palace” in Prague. The purchase price amounts to around 57 million euros. The property has been purchased indirectly through a real estate company, and will be added to the DEGI INTERNATIONAL open-ended property fund, which focuses on commercial properties worldwide.

As part of the “Property Management Trends” series, DEGI, a company of Aberdeen Property Investors, in Frankfurt today unveiled a comprehensive analysis of the Southeast Asian property markets and their investment opportunities.

A few days ago, DEGI, part of the Aberdeen Property Investors Group, signed the purchase agreement for the “Petroleum Plaza” office building in Edmonton, Canada, for around €80 million. The property is being acquired indirectly through a real estate company, and incorporated in the DEGI INTERNATIONAL public fund, which focuses on commercial properties worldwide. The seller is an investment fund owned by KingSett Capital.

Aberdeen Property Investors announces that its Luxembourg based Aberdeen Property Nordic Fund I SICAV (FIS) has made two acquisitions and exceeded its target equity size of €200 million.

Aberdeen Property Fund Denmark P/S has acquired two office buildings at Strandvejen 123/Tuborgvej 5, 2900 Hellerup and Nygårdsvej 32, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, for a total of DKK 263m (EUR 35m).

DEGI’s latest investment: specialist retailing centre in Andernach.
Part of the Aberdeen Property Investors Group, DEGI today announced the signing of a purchase agreement for the “Andernach Shopping World”, involving a total investment of around 40 million euros. The directly purchased property will be added to the DEGI GERMAN BUSINESS property fund, which focuses on commercial properties in Germany.

Aberdeen Property Investors announces that one of its Pan-European funds, Aberdeen European Balanced Property Fund, has acquired two properties in Heerhugowaard and Andelst in The Netherlands.

Aberdeen Property Investors announces that one of its Pan-European funds, Aberdeen European Balanced Property Fund, has recently acquired properties in both France and the Netherlands.

Aberdeen Property Investors is pleased to announce a successful investment of USD 80 million in its AIPP Asia Select fund on the 18th April 2008. The main investor was a Finnish pension institution, The Local Government Pensions Institution (“LGPI”), who committed USD 75 million. This latest closing brings total equity commitments since the fund’s launch in September 2007 to USD 158 million.

Aberdeen Asset Management PLC (Aberdeen), the UK-listed global asset manager, today announces that it will acquire Goodman Property investors (GPI) from the Goodman Group for an initial cash consideration of approximately €114 million (£89 million). The acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing in the first full year of ownership.

Aberdeen Asset Management PLC ('Aberdeen') is pleased to announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Aberdeen Property Investors Holding AB , has completed its acquisition of DEGI Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Immobilienfonds MbH (“DEGI”), a leading German-based property investment management company. DEGI has been acquired from Dresdner Bank for a cash consideration of €110 million (approximately £86.2 million) following approval from BaFin, the German financial authority. The transaction was initially announced on 21 December 2007.

Aberdeen Property Nordic Fund I SICAV (FIS) announces that it has acquired a logistics and distribution centre of approximately 70,000 sqm in the Torsvik industrial area, 10 km south of Jönköping in Sweden. The property has a lettable area of 40,400 sqm, consisting mainly of warehousespace.

"Aberdeen predicts decline in European Property returns in 2008”
Aberdeen Property Investors is predicting returns of 1.9% in European property in 2008 as a result of declining capital values. Total “All Property” returns were already down in 2007, with Aberdeen estimating returns of 3.7% for the year compared with the record 13.3% achieved the previous year. All countries generated positive returns in 2007, with the exception of the UK which recorded negative All Property returns of 3.4%. In 2008, Aberdeen expects Norway and Finland to produce the best returns.

Aberdeen Property Funds SICAV Pan-Nordic (“The Fund”) announces that it has acquired a property portfolio in Stockholm for approximately € 220 million (SEK 2.1 billion) from Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds and Niam Fund III. The portfolio consists of eight office properties spanning approximately 70,000 m2 located in Marievik, southern Stockholm.

Aberdeen Real Estate Fund Finland L.P. has acquired the Hatanpään valtatie 30 property in Tampere, Finland. The property was built in three phases between 1998 and 2000 with a total area of approximately 50,000 square metres. The transaction is structured as a sale and lease-back transaction involving the Fund, Nokia Siemens Networks and Nordea Finance Finland Ltd. Nokia Siemens Networks will continue to use the space as tenant.