SQUIRE SANDERS STRENGTHENS REAL ESTATE PRACTICE IN RUSSIA

Kunitsa and his team have extensive experience in real estate development, investment projects and virtually all types of contemporary real estate transactions. Their practice focuses on advising institutional and private investors on structuring and implementing complex, cross-border transactions aimed at the acquisition of real estate; representing major Western and Russian companies in wide varieties of real estate transactions in Russia and other jurisdictions with similar legal systems; and advising lenders and borrowers on real estate financing and refinancing matters. They also represent private companies in negotiations with governmental authorities of all levels and provide legal advice on regulatory aspects of real estate transactions.

Ivan A. Trifonov, managing partner of the firm’s Moscow office, said: “Our strong team has been significantly enhanced, creating a formidable new group equipped to provide the best possible advice and take on the largest and most complex real estate transactions in Russia. Kunitsa and his team join us at a crucial time, just as the Russian real estate market is maturing and taking a different direction than some of the countries in Central and Eastern Europe. We are experiencing a high level of sizeable transactions, involving major investment banks, real estate investment funds and prominent developers.

“The real estate market in Russia is booming, with commercial real estate investment volumes reaching €3.4 billion in 2006, which is 10 times what it was in 2005. Our real estate practice continues to grow apace in order to meet the demand for reliable and knowledgeable local advice in this market.”

Squire Sanders’ lawyers across the globe regularly represent clients in widely varied types of real estate projects including airports, apartments, condominiums, distribution centres, hotels/resorts, industrial buildings, land acquisitions, land use planning and zoning, office buildings, office parks, public infrastructure, redevelopment projects, residential subdivisions, schools and shopping centres. Clients benefit from a wealth of resources regardless of geographic location, making available to all clients the specialised expertise developed across the firm’s offices.

Since the opening of the Moscow office in 1991, Squire Sanders has built a strong practice in the fast-growing real estate markets of Russia and Ukraine, with lawyers experienced in development, financing and acquisitions and divestitures of all types of real estate projects.

In June, Squire Sanders’ real estate team advised Developers Diversified Realty Corporation (NYSE:DDR), the largest shopping centre real estate investment trust (REIT) in the United States, as it entered into a US$300 million joint venture with ECE Projektmanagement International G.m.b.H., part of the Otto Group, a German real estate development company. Together, DDR and ECE will pursue retail development in Russia and Ukraine. The transaction involved a complex structure of multiple jurisdictions, including issues governed by Russian, Ukrainian, German and US law, as well as European Community competition law and coordination with local counsel in Cyprus.

Squire Sanders’ real estate lawyers are consistently recommended by legal surveys around the world including Chambers Europe 2007 (one real estate client notes that Squire Sanders is “the only international firm that has never disappointed me”), European Legal Experts 2007, The Best Lawyers in America 2007 and Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers 2006.

Founded in 1890, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P. has approximately 800 lawyers in 30 offices and 14 countries around the world. With one of the strongest integrated global platforms and a longstanding one-firm philosophy, Squire Sanders provides sophisticated seamless legal counsel worldwide. Offices in the Americas are located in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Palo Alto, Phoenix, San Francisco, Tallahassee, Tampa, Tysons Corner, Washington DC, West Palm Beach, Caracas, Rio de Janeiro and Santo Domingo. In Europe, offices are in Bratislava, Brussels, Budapest,Frankfurt, London, Moscow, Prague and Warsaw. In Asia, offices are in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo. Associated offices include Bucharest, Buenos Aires, Dublin, Kyiv and Santiago.