2008-10-08

Again this year EXPO REAL has recorded strong growth. The 11th International Commercial Property Exposition, which took place in Munich from 6 to 8 October 2008, attracted 24,787 trade visitors from 78 countries (2007: 23,800 from 77 countries). In addition, at the exhibition stands, there were over 17,500 company representatives. The figure for participation in EXPO REAL 2008 was thus 42,000 (2007: 39,000) – a rise over last year of 7.7 percent.
 
"These figures show that even and especially in a time of uncertain financial markets the sector needs a forum in which it can analyse the situation and develop perspectives for the future. That is why it is supporting the biggest commercial property fair in Europe, EXPO REAL," said Eugen Egetenmeir, a member of the management board of Messe München. "At this year´s EXPO REAL we are seeing a continuation of the positive effects of recent years. This trade fair is a platform for both generating new business and consolidating existing customer relations," said Ulf Buhlemann, Managing Director / Head of Valuation, CB Richard Ellis, Germany.
 
The top ten countries of origin among the visitors, after Germany, were (in this order). Great Britain, Netherlands, Austria, Russia, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Poland, USA, France and Spain.
 
Bavaria´s Minister of Economic Affairs, Emilia Müller, attested to the fair´s excellent international reputation during her visit: "Here representatives from a wide range of countries and regions can present themselves to an international audience."
 
Alongside the subjects of investment and finance strategies another focus at the fair was sustainability. The Deputy Minister of Economics of Catalonia, Andreu Morillas, said: "EXPO REAL featured projects of the highest quality that point out the tremendous opportunities that exist for sustainable development. EXPO REAL is an indicator for the direction of urban development generally in Europe."
 
A total of 1,856 companies from 46 countries exhibited at EXPO REAL 2008. Of this number, 487 came from outside Germany, which represents a stable international proportion of 26 percent. The strongest contingent from abroad came from Russia, which was represented with 62 exhibitors. "We take part in many trade fairs, but for us EXPO REAL is one of the most promising platforms at which to present new projects. This explains why we are so active at this event," said the Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov.
 
In 2008, for the first time, EXPO REAL encompassed seven halls, covering 74,000 square metres of exhibition space – which is a rise of 11,000 square metres, or 17 percent, over last time.
 
The over 100 individual events in the conference programme at EXPO REAL provided an opportunity for 500 experts to exchange views on developments in the property markets. The most popular events were those on financial themes, for example, strategies for crisis management, global capital flows and how to finance investments against a background of dwindling liquidity. Other themes, alongside the overall focus of sustainability in project developments, were current market data and market overviews on growth markets such as Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Turkey and Kazakhstan. Marc T. Lerch, General Manager CEE / Central Asia, CAB Invest, exhibiting at the joint stand of Kazakhstan, said: "EXPO REAL is a tremendous event – it is an ideal platform for a country like Kazakhstan to present itself to the investment community."
 
The next EXPO REAL takes place from 5 to 7 October 2009 in Munich.
 

Eduard Artemyev, Commercial Director, Yekaterinburg, Russia
"We take part in EXPO REAL in order to attract new investors from all over the world. This trade fair is the ideal platform for doing just that."

Dr Kurt R. Becker, Communication Director, Jones Lang LaSalle, Germany
"EXPO REAL is a real place for encounter in a difficult time. We had some excellent conversations here on the theme of 'back to the fundamentals'. Property is now firmly back on the ground."

Steven Bennett, Head of City Investment, GVA Worldwide, Great Britain
"EXPO REAL is very good for business, particularly for meeting with established contacts.”

Dr Andreas Blaschkowski, Board Spokesman, Drees & Sommer, Germany
"Green Building is the number one topic at EXPO REAL this year. There was tremendous demand at our stand for information on certification."

Karl-Heinz Boos, Principal Managing Director of the Bundesverband Öffentlicher Banken Deutschlands (Association of German Public Sector Banks), Germany
"My compliments to EXPO REAL: It offers us and our banks a superb platform for presenting themes that are important to us, for example PPP and real-estate analysis, and it´s a great place to make new contacts. For us this fair is a must."

Ulf Buhlemann, Managing Director / Head of Valuation, CB Richard Ellis, Germany
"At this year´s EXPO REAL we are seeing a continuation of the positive effects of recent years. This trade fair is a platform for both generating new business and consolidating existing customer relations; it is a working fair at which real business is done. Here we have been involved in discussions on specific contracts and signed a number of new deals. We have also met with potential new customers. I have been coming to EXPO REAL ever since the very first event, and I have seen the tremendous development the fair has undergone since then."

Richard Fiddes, Managing Partner Continental Europe, King Sturge, Great Britain
"EXPO REAL is a key corporate event for King Sturge. Representatives from all our European offices find it an ideal platform to do business.”

Olivia Gallimore, Global Head of Marketing and PR, Knight Frank, Great Britain
"EXPO REAL has again been a great success for us, the overall feeling being that it’s the best trade fair for the sector.”

Astrid Kares, Head of Communication, Raiffeisen Evolution, Austria
"Despite the crisis we have had many very good talks during the fair and received many inquiries."

Axel König, CEO NAI apollo, NAI Global, USA
"I have been coming to the fair since the very first event, and in this time Munich has grown into the number one meeting place for the German and international real estate sector. EXPO REAL is an extremely professional platform and it has excellent market penetration. Every company of note is represented here, by people from right through the company hierarchy, up to top management level. The trend in the property sector this year is clearly towards optimisation strategies and there is increasing price sensitivity. Here at EXPO REAL we succeeded in signing up a number of deals with customers."

Igor Kostovski, Advisor, Agency for Foreign Investments in Macedonia, Invest Macedonia, Macedonia
"We are here at EXPO REAL because of the great concentration of key players in the real estate industry that we find here. It is a unique meeting point for exchange of information and initiating new partnerships."

V. Lavrov, President, Chamber of Trade and Industry of Yaroslavl, Russia
"The EXPO REAL trade fair is of a very high standard. The representatives at the Yaroslavl stand were able to forge constructive contacts with potential partners during the fair."

Marc T. Lerch, General Manager CEE / Central Asia, CAB Invest, Joint Stand of Kazakhstan
"EXPO REAL is a tremendous event – it is an ideal platform for a country like Kazakhstan to present itself to the investment community. The quality of the visitors is very good and it has fantastic international scope. Particularly in a crisis the sector needs an opportunity to find ways forward."

Yuri Luzhkov, Mayor of the City of Moscow, Russia
"We take part in a lot of fairs, but for us EXPO REAL is one of the most promising platforms for talking about new building projects. That’s why we are so active here.”

George A. Manthous, Director Sales and Marketing, Portfolio & Property Research, Inc. Boston, Massachusetts, USA
"PPR provides international property market intelligence. This is our second year at EXPO REAL. We regard the show as a high-value event that provides the opportunity to meet decision-makers.”

Emilia Müller, Departmental Minister, Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Transport and Technology, Germany
"EXPO REAL is, I can say with pride, the largest commercial property fair in Europe. Here representatives from a wide range of countries and regions can present themselves to an international audience."

Andreu Morillas, Deputy Minister of Economics, Ministry of Economics of the Regional Government of Catalonia, Spain
"Munich has an impressive exhibition centre and EXPO REAL featured projects of the highest quality that point out the tremendous opportunities that exist for sustainable development. EXPO REAL is an indicator for the direction of urban development generally in Europe."

Viola Puci, Executive Director, Albinvest, Albania
"EXPO-REAL gives us an excellent opportunity to make great contacts and promote great projects.”

Guido Princis, Director, City Development Department of the City of Riga, Latvia
"We are very satisfied with the fair, and despite the property crisis we are able to report many new and specific inquiries. For us EXPO REAL is the number one property fair."

Dr Walter Rogg, Managing Director, Wirtschaftsförderung Region Stuttgart GmbH (Stuttgart Region Economic Development Corporation), Germany
"The general situation for attracting investors at this trade fair are excellent: stable property prices and a business and research location that has for decades been among the strongest and most innovative in Europe – these are convincing arguments. In the engineering sector in particular there was strong investment in the past year. Also EXPO REAL is again set to achieve a new record for both exhibitor and visitor numbers. And the high quality of contacts made at this fair is well known."

Giorgi Ugulava, Mayor of Tbilisi City, Georgia
"EXPO REAL is an excellent platform for us to demonstrate the level of opportunity and continued commitment in Tbilisi. We look forward to forging new contacts to help take forward and deliver committed projects and to help realise our vision of a rejuvenated Tbilisi.”

Juan van Halen Rodriguez, General Director of Housing, Region of Madrid, Spain
"We launched a new PPP project to finance, build and manage 45,000 housing units on rent for 40 years on government-owned building land. We are happy to be at EXPO REAL 2008 to promote this project.”

Dr Ludwig Steinbauer, CEO, Strabag, Germany
"EXPO REAL is already a success, because here I have the unique opportunity of meeting face to face with many of our customers all in one place."

Dr John von Freyend, President ZIA, Zentraler Immobilien Ausschuss e.V., Germany
"In the view of ZIA, EXPO REAL is a future-oriented forum for the real-estate sector, it creates transparency and has an effect far beyond the borders of Germany."

Dr Reinhard Wieczorek, Head of the Department of Labour and Economic Development, City of Munich, Germany
"This successful B2B fair, EXPO REAL, is regarded as a highly dynamic networking platform for projects, investment and finance. All the important property markets and the key players in the national and international property sector converge at this event in Munich."

Serv Wiemers, Director Investment Climate & Promotion, EVD international business and cooperation, Netherlands
"EXPO REAL is a fantastic fair – we experienced an atmosphere for excellent networking activities, especially at the joint Dutch pavilion. Therefore we intend to exhibit again at EXPO REAL 2009.”

Marta Witkowicz, Director, Department of the City Treasury, Cracow, Poland
"This is an important event, one that you just have to attend. Rising numbers of visitors each year and the opportunity to engage in interesting meetings and make contact with experts from the property sector make EXPO REAL without doubt one of the most prestigious events in which we take part."

Nikolay Yamaliev, Director, Bogaris Industrial, Sofia, Bulgaria
"EXPO REAL is the best commercial property fair. We will definitely be coming back again."

Lukas Zenaty, Deputy Mayor, City of Ostrava, Czech Republic
"It is very amazing that EXPO REAL is growing even though the global financial crisis is affecting the real estate industry. The networking factor is very significant at EXPO REAL and important for us. Many developers were interested in our city and our region.”

Further information: www.exporeal.net.
 
Messe München International (MMI)
Messe München International (MMI) is one of the world´s leading trade-fair organisations. It organises around 40 trade fairs for capital and consumer goods, and new technology. Over 30,000 exhibitors from more than 100 countries, and over two million visitors from more than 200 countries take part each year in the trade fairs in Munich. In addition, MMI organises trade fairs in Asia, Russia, the Middle East and in South America. With six subsidiaries abroad and 66 foreign representatives covering 89 countries, MMI has a truly global network.
 
 
Press contact:
Petra Gagel                           
Tel.: +49 89 / 9 49-20244, Fax: +49 89 / 9 49-20249
E-mail: petra.gagel@messe-muenchen.de

            
MarComGB1/pet