The Pyne Companies Ltd. and König & Cie. Establish Advisory Company for US Real Estates

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Pyne Companies Ltd. and German issuing house König & Cie. GmbH & Co. KG have formed a joint venture, König Pyne & Cie. LP. In cooperation with their legal advisor, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, the firm offers consultancy services for institutional investors that need to consider refinancing and repositioning of their US real estate investments against the background of the financial crisis, or investors that plan to place capital in the US real estate market in a non-cyclical fashion. König Pyne & Cie. has long-term experience in financing, administration, operating, optimizing, value-enhancement, acquisitions and dispositions of US properties. For additional information please refer to: www.koenig-pyne.com

With expertise in the fields of US real estate and legal advisory, as well as an excellent network of European and US real estate investors, König Pyne & Cie. will assist investors with the goal of holding and operating properties for the long-term. “The only thing a forced sale in this environment will result in, is a loss”, says Percy R. Pyne IV, CEO of the Pyne Companies and Principal of König Pyne & Cie. “A sale followed by a loss is a self fulfilling prophecy. It’s better to stop worrying and go back to work.”

As a result of the financial crisis, the real estate market is heavily affected by the lack of financing. Banks are weakened and new financing sources are highly sought after. Hedge funds and open-end funds must inevitably sell their properties below value, further depreciating real estate prices. Many possibilities for non-cyclical investments in US real estate currently exist, which we believe is still an opportune, long-term investment because the market fundamentals of real estate remain strong.

The Companies

The Pyne Companies Ltd. was founded by Percy R. Pyne IV as a real estate investment and consultancy company. They are owners and operators of a 490 million USD portfolio of 40 buildings totaling more than 2.6 million square feet. The Pyne Companies Ltd. is well grounded in maximizing long-term asset value through asset development, acquisition, repositioning, financing, marketing and disposition.

With 700 attorneys worldwide Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP serves the legal and public interest needs of many of the world’s most admired businesses, nonprofits and individuals. With more than 100 real estate attorneys Sonnenschein´s real estate clients range from architectural and engineering firms to construction and development companies, financial institutions and investment banks, insurance companies, retailers and universities.

The Hamburgian issuing house König & Cie. GmbH & Co. KG was founded by Tobias König in 1999 and is one of the leading issuing houses in Germany. With managing partner Johannes Bitter-Suermann, who is responsible for the real estate department of König & Cie., the company is able to draw from a large pool of knowledge and experience in financings and structuring of commercial US real estate investments. During his time in sales and in the international business of a globally operating bank in New York, Mr. Bitter-Suermann structured financing volumes of several billion USD for class-A-real estates in the United States and diverse equity investments. Since his shift to König & Cie. in 2006, the real estate activities of the firm have been continuously expanding. To date, König & Cie. has launched 76 closed-end funds in the fields of shipping, private equity, real estate, renewable energy, infrastructure and life insurance. With the Marenave Schiffahrts AG, which had its IPO in 2006, the total investment volume is 4.1 billion EUR. König & Cie. employs 137 professionals in offices in Hamburg, Vienna, Shanghai and Mumbai. Beyond the issuing business, König & Cie. has expanded over the years to an international, highly reputable asset manager, and offers professional expertise and long-term experience in cooperation with its international expert-network as an advisory service on behalf of third parties