Salans Advises JV Between Renaissance and Amstar Global Partners

ADANA, TURKEY (June 4, 2009) - Salans is pleased to have advised a joint venture between Renaissance, one of Turkey's leading shopping mall development companies, and Amstar Global Partners, a private equity real estate fund active in emerging markets including Turkey and Russia.

The joint venture obtained a €101 million construction to permanent financing from UniCredit Bank Austria and Yapi Kredi for the development of a shopping centre, located in Adana, Turkey.

The project is branded as an Optimum Outlet Center and will consist of 57,500 sqm of leasable area. Construction is already underway with expected opening in the first quarter of 2011. It is part of a series of joint projects that Amstar and Renaissance are developing in Turkey and Russia.

The financing joint venture team was led by Jason Lucas of Amstar, who commented that "putting the financing in place in this environment is a testament to the strength of the project and the sponsorship. We are pleased that our development strategy has received the backing of Yapi Kredi and UniCredit Bank Austria and we look forward to bringing the project to completion with them. The support of Salans was instrumental in getting the financing done."

Marcell Clark, Co-chair of Salans' Global Real Estate Finance Team added: "Although difficult to obtain, financing of quality projects in growing markets is still possible in this downturn."