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Corporate News | Press Release Vienna, 6 November 2012

IMMOFINANZ Group celebrates topping-out ceremony in Gerling Quartier

Just two months after the complete takeover of the Gerling Quartier development project in Cologne, the new sole owner IMMOFINANZ Group set an important milestone by completing 40% of the building shells. That was reason enough to celebrate this intermediate goal with a topping-out ceremony.

Together with Colognes Lord Mayor Jrgen Roters, the managers celebrated the occasion with a festive ceremony. Roters was impressed with the progress on this project as well as the aesthetics and architectonic design of the quarter: As one of the largest inner city development projects in Germany, the Gerling Quartier is extremely important for Cologne. In particular, the blending of historical and modern architecture into an entirely new style makes the Gerling Quartier unique, explained the Lord Mayor.

When we took over the Gerling Quartier in September, we announced that we would do everything possible to realise this project quickly and successfully. Todays topping-out ceremony for the first three building shells demonstrates to the city of Cologne and its residents that we keep our word, commented Eduard Zehetner, CEO of IMMOFINANZ Group. Construction will now continue without interruption. The topping-out ceremony is only a short breather - it gives the many participants and stakeholders from the company, politics and administration an opportunity to take a look at our ambitious project and to visualise the new Gerling Quartier.

Memorable and characteristic The Gerling Quartier will become an independent Veedel (district) in Cologne. This fusion of tradition and modern, the convergence of Mediterranean atmosphere and international architecture create a distinct atmosphere and will have a significant influence on the cityscape of Cologne. The transformation of the Gerling property is something like the birth of a new city within the existing metropolitan area. For us as planners, an extremely complex process that is, at the same time, fascinating and exhilarating when design issues touch so many lives and move this much city. The first shells make it easier to see the huge potential of this new urban quarter, explained Johannes Kister from the architects firm kister scheithauer gross and master planner of the Gerling Quartier.

Full-speed work on the first stage of construction IMMOFINANZ Group plans to realise a total of 15 buildings in two phases in the Gerling Quartier. Construction on the first stage is currently proceeding at full speed. Five residential and five commercial properties are scheduled for completion by autumn 2014, and the first buildings should be finished at the end of 2013. For this reason, IMMOFINANZ Group has substantially accelerated work at this most spectacular construction site in Cologne. Nearly 140 workers are ensuring the fast and smooth progress of construction on the individual properties: for example, the core of the Gerling-Hochhaus, the highly visible landmark of this former corporate headquarters, was recently removed with a 65 metre crane.

Growing interest in residential space in the Gerling Quartier The activity at the construction site has triggered a strong rise in the interest of potential apartment buyers. Although marketing is only scheduled to start in December, reservations have already been received for 100 apartments in Haus Gerling. This property is currently being restructured: it will have 43 apartments with recessed balconies and, starting at the sixth floor, a view of Cologne Cathedral. Pre-sale commitments for space in the first stage of construction have already exceeded 40%.

Start of preparations for second-phase projects The second stage of construction will comprise five further projects. IMMOFINANZ Group is currently evaluating all plans with a view to the intended use and realisation. This process will be concluded by the end of 2012, and construction on the first buildings should start next year. However, the actual start, above all for the commercial properties, is dependent on pre-sales and pre-leasing.

The costs to complete the Gerling Quartier are estimated at approx. EUR 213 million and will be provided by IMMOFINANZ Group as the investor and Sparkasse KlnBonn as the financing bank. The total investment for the largest project currently under development by IMMOFINANZ Group will total nearly EUR 400 million.

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DGAP-News: IMMOFINANZ Group celebrates topping-out ceremony in Gerling Quartier

Daniel Craig has revealed he is "waiting around" for word on a follow-up to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

The Skyfall star played leading man Mikael Blomkvist in David Fincher's adaptation of Stieg Larsson's Swedish crime hit, and is set to reprise his role for the sequel The Girl Who Played With Fire.

But he told Collider he is still awaiting further details of the movie. He added: "We're waiting around, waiting for a script and all of those things. Talk to the Sony people, they're in charge."

Daniel also confessed he enjoyed letting loose after his strict fitness and diet regime for his third Bond movie.

"We were in Istanbul and Turkey towards the end of the shoot and I didn't have to take my shirt off any more so I just ate wonderful Turkish food which is not exactly the most slimming," he said.

"I didn't really get too overweight but I just had a couple of beers at night before I went to bed just to relax me."

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Craig: No word on Tattoo sequel

Final Preparations For Election Day Final Preparations For Election Day

Updated: Tuesday, November 6 2012 4:00 PM EST2012-11-06 21:00:46 GMT

County election officials have been working for months to prepare for Tuesday's election day. With less than 24 hours until the polls open, all they had to do was hand out equipment and handle hundreds

County election officials have been working for months to prepare for Tuesday's election day.

Updated: Tuesday, November 6 2012 3:50 PM EST2012-11-06 20:50:20 GMT

Beautiful Weather Continues!Under clear skies and light winds, temperatures will bottom out near 50 degrees around sunrise Sunday morning. Then, with lots of sunshine, we'll warm to around 70 degrees by

Nice weather until the weekend. Storms for Saturday/Sunday

Updated: Monday, November 5 2012 6:40 PM EST2012-11-05 23:40:35 GMT

Newschannel 6 is keeping you informed on local races, as election day fast approaches. We met one on one with candidates running for County Commissioner Precinct 3, and each is confident that they are

Newschannel6 iskeeping youinformed on local races, aselection day fast approaches. We met one on one with candidates running for County Commissioner, Precinct 3 and each is confident says they are the person for the job.

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HRT confirms that test driver Ma Qing Hua was honoured by China for his rise to F1, but makes no mention of the rumoured race seat for 2013.

Sections of the Chinese media began reporting that Ma would graduate from a testing role to a full race seat next season after the driver appeared at a press event in his native Shanghai, but the team's version of events claimed that the relative unknown was merely being honoured for taking China onto the F1 stage during his Friday practice outings alongside Pedro de la Rosa.

Senior figures such as the director of the Shanghai Administration of Sports, Li Yuyi, the deputy director of the General Administration of Sports, Wan Heping, the chairman of Shanghai Automobile and Motorsports Association, Zhao Yinghua, and the CEO of JUSS Group, Zhang Huimin, as well as the Spanish Consulate's chairman, Gonzalo Ortiz, and HRT F1 Team business director, David Mancebo, were all present at the event.

"We want to congratulate Ma Qing Hua, the first Chinese F1 driver," Zhao Yingua confirmed, "This is an important milestone for Chinese motorsport and, from now on, we move into a new era. F1 is one of the most famous sporting events in the world and Ma Qing Hua's participation with HRT is great news for China. We are very proud of him and we wish him and the team the very best. We will also make a big effort to support him.

After first having joined HRT's 'Driver Development Programme' in May, Ma got his first chance to drive for the Spanish team in July's Young Driver Test at Silverstone, before being given the opportunity to build on that experience with runs in free practice at the Italian, Singapore and Abu Dhabi grands prix.

"At HRT, we are very happy with Ma since he began with us," Mancebo reported, "He has progressed notably in his development as a driver and has fitted into the team perfectly. He's a driver with incredible talent and great potential. Ma has achieved an historic milestone for Chinese and world motorsport by becoming the first Chinese driver to make his debut in F1. He has also met the expectations of every challenge he has been presented with and which were more complicated each time. Our team is a young one with a project which is still under construction that looks to the future and, without a doubt, we would like to continue counting on Ma Qing Hua for the future as we have done this year.

Ma had been reported to have landed a race deal for 2013, with Narain Karthikeyan - the driver hae has replaced during his FP1 exploits - supposedly looking to a future in Indycars [see separate story].

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HRT 'happy' with Ma, no word of 2013 race deal

By James Coney

PUBLISHED: 20:24 EST, 6 November 2012 | UPDATED: 05:03 EST, 7 November 2012

Ever since it took over Abbey in 2004 Santander has been fighting a desperate battle to improve the banks diabolical customer service.

Time and again in those eight years, the Spanish bank looks to have got on top of years of this terrible reputation. But though Abbey is gone, its spirit will not rest in peace. And yet again the ghost of Shabby Abbey seems to have returned to haunt Santander.

It always seemed likely to us that the stories of the readers we printed last week who had tried to get money from old passbook accounts only to be told the cash was missing were just the tip of the iceberg.

The name has been changed: But the innocent do not seem to be protected from a savings shamble at Santander.

But we were shocked by the number of letters and emails we have already received. They were still arriving as we went to press.

It now seems clear that, up and down the country, staff in Santander branches have been turning away customers who came in to withdraw money from accounts they were certain had money in them.

When the computer said no, these loyal savers were simply sent away. Are all these customers chancers and cheats? Are they all chronically forgetful? Or is it more likely that they are the victims of a bank which does not know what it is doing?

In most cases Santander has not proved that these customers have withdrawn their cash.And you have to wonder why other banks and building societies all of whom issued millions of passbook accounts dont also have this difficulty.

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THE LAST WORD: An Abbey shambles