OREANDA-NEWS. September 1, 2010. Deutsche Bank, Sberbank, Strabag and DB Development signed an agreement of intent for the sale of DB Development shares to Sberbank. Sberbank intends to acquire 51% of DB Development shares – 49% owned by Stabag, and 2% owned by Dmitry Garkusha, General Director of DB Development. The deal will be completed by the end of 2010.

DB Development is a joint venture of Deutsche Bank and the Austrian building and construction company Strabag, created in 2007 after an approval of the European Commission for development and financing of a wide range of large scale real estate and infrastructure projects in Russia and the CIS countries.

Joerg Bongartz, Chairman of the Board of OOO “Deutsche Bank” and a member of the Board of ZAO “DB Development” said: “We are glad that as a result of this deal a very powerful development firm was set up, the competitive advantages of which are built on Sberbank’s market presence, significant global experience of Deutsche Bank and DB Development’s know-how in development and structuring  in the real estate sector.”

Andrei Stroev, Head of the Real Estate and Administration Department of Sberbank noted: “The cooperation of Sberbank – the largest Russian bank, and Deutsche Bank – top-ranked leader in the global capital markets, on the platform of DB Development opens new opportunities for the Russian Real Estate market, where developers, although having teams of professionals and interesting projects, sometimes do not have the necessary capital base for the implementation as the crisis influenced significantly this sector. Indeed, this deal on acquiring the control stake of DB Development is an extraordinary and interesting solution.”

Gerhard Gritzner, Member of the Board of Strabag AG, Managing Director for Russia and CIS said: “We welcome this deal and having gained positive experience of working with DB Development during two years, we hope to continue our close partnership in a new way, given the company’s capabilities in the development business and structuring deals in the capital markets.”

Dmitry Garkusha, General Director of ZAO “DB Development” commented: “We are glad that as a result of our cooperation with Sberbank and Deutsche Bank we signed the agreement on the deal which allow us not only to use our innovations and technologies, but also the extensive experience of the both banks. We are confident that the synergy of Deutsche Bank and Sberbank cooperation will positively influence the Real Estate market and allows DB Development to reach the leading positions in the areas of fee-development and attracting financing.”