King & Spalding Relocates Real Estate Practice Leadership to New York; Andrew Charles Joins New York Real Estate Practice as Partner

ATLANTA, GA and NEW YORK, NY -- (MARKET WIRE) -- February 16, 2007 -- King & Spalding, a leading international law firm, announced today that it is relocating the center of operation of its well-known real estate capital markets practice to New York City from Atlanta. The firm said it is expanding that practice in New York with the immediate addition of Andrew H. Charles as a partner and expects in the near future to as much as double to 20-25 the number of New York attorneys working in this area. At least 30 real estate attorneys remain in Atlanta and Houston and will continue to be fully integrated with the practice's New York headquarters.

The move initially will affect at least six Atlanta-based King & Spalding lawyers, including Scott J. Arnold, head of the real estate practice. Also relocating to New York will be senior partner William B. Fryer and corporate partner John D. Wilson. Associates Sara W. Brown, Thomas W. (Wes) Brinkley and Rivers D. (Dave) Powell also will move to New York. Arnold and Fryer will maintain offices in Atlanta and New York.

Arnold, Fryer, Wilson, Charles and the others will be joining King & Spalding's New York-based real estate industry lawyers. These include partner Wilfried E. Witthuhn and associate Sebastian F. Kaufmann, who represent the largest German investment funds in their U.S. real estate investment activities; Islamic finance partners Isam Salah and Andrew M. Metcalf, who represent Middle East real estate clients; corporate partner Anthony W. Rothermel, who works closely with the firm's real estate practice on securities offerings for real estate clients; and finance partner Vanessa Spiro.

"King & Spalding has enjoyed great success in establishing a premier reputation in the private equity and mergers and acquisitions sectors of the real estate industry," Arnold said. "Our real estate team is committed to the expansion of our capital markets practice, particularly in New York, London and other financial centers. We believe that concentrating our energies on New York will greatly enhance both our service to our clients and our opportunities to attract like-minded talent."

Joining King & Spalding in New York as a partner in the real estate practice is Andrew H. Charles. He has extensive experience in all aspects of real estate transactions, particularly representing real estate private equity firms in all aspects of their acquisition, financing and disposition activities. He also has handled mezzanine financing and mixed debt/equity investment and financings, including construction financing and securitizations. He joins King & Spalding from Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP.

Charles received a J.D. degree, cum laude, from Georgetown University School of Law and B.A. degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania.

King & Spalding's real estate practice has been at the forefront of the public-to-private trend, having acted for ING Clarion, Morgan Stanley and GE Real Estate, respectively, in the recent Gables, AMLI and Arden Realty acquisitions. The practice is one of the most active in the country representing sponsors of, and equity providers to, large real estate investment funds. King & Spalding clients in this area include AMB Property Corporation, Arcapita, The Brookdale Group, JAMESTOWN, KanAM Grund, Macquarie Global Property Advisors, Paladin Realty Partners, Real Estate Capital Partners, Regency Centers, Wachovia and Wells Real Estate Funds.

About King & Spalding

King & Spalding is an international law firm with more than 800 lawyers in Atlanta, Dubai, Houston, London, New York and Washington, D.C. The firm represents more than half of the Fortune 100, and in a Corporate Counsel survey in August 2006 was ranked one of the top ten firms representing Fortune 250 companies overall. For additional information, visit www.kslaw.com.

Contact Information: Contact: Les Zuke King & Spalding ph (212) 827-4392 Email Contact