W.P. Carey & Co. elects former Eurohypo AG head as independent director

Investment firm W.P. Carey & Co. LLC announced that its Board of Directors elected Dr.Karsten von Köller, the former Chairman and Member of the Board of Managing Directors of Eurohypo AG, to serve as an independent director of the Company.

In addition, he will serve as a member of W. P. Carey´s Independent Investment Committee, which must approve all acquisitions.

'The addition of Dr. von Köller to the Board will be a tremendous asset to W. P. Carey and its shareholders,' said Gordon F. DuGan, President and Co-CEO of W. P. Carey. 'His experience as Chairman and CEO of Europe´s largest real estate financing firm will provide us with valuable insight into the European credit and real estate market. As a member of our Investment Committee, his understanding of the European real estate cycles as well as his years of experience in analyzing commercial real estate markets will further enable us to make prudent investment decisions particularly as they relate to Europe. I am pleased to welcome Karsten and look forward to working with him, on behalf of our more than 100,000 investors, in the future.'

Dr.von Köller said, 'I am excited to join W. P. Carey and add my professional expertise of the European property markets to their profound know-how of real estate in general.'

W. P. Carey´s Board is comprised of eleven directors, four of which are management directors and seven are outside directors.

Prior to his role as Chairman of Eurohypo AG, from 1984 through 2001, Dr. von Köller was a member of the Board of Managing Directors of RHEINHYP Rheinische Hypothekenbank AG (Commerzbank group) where he was responsible for the bank´s commercial real estate lending activities outside Germany. He was an Executive Vice President of BHF-BANK, Frankfurt, and was responsible for the bank´s corporate customer business in northern and western Germany and in western industrial countries from 1981 through 1984. Before holding this position, from 1977 through 1980, he served as Senior Vice President and co-manager of the New York branch of BHF-BANK, Frankfurt. From 1971 through 1976, he served in the syndicated loan and investment banking department of Berliner Handels- und Frankfurter Bank (BHF-BANK), Frankfurt am Main. Dr. von Köller studied law at the Universities of Bonn and Munich and is a graduate of Harvard Business School.

Founded in 1973, W. P. Carey & Co. is a leading global investment firm that has long served as the preeminent provider of sale-leaseback financing to corporations and private equity firms in the United States and Europe. It manages the Corporate Property Associates (CPA®) series of income generating, publicly held non-traded REITs. W. P. Carey owns and/or manages more than 600 commercial and industrial properties worldwide representing more than 80 million square feet.

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