KKR & Hines Form Joint Venture to Develop Houston's Pinto Business Park

KKR & Hines Form Joint Venture to Develop Houston's Pinto Business Park

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. (together with its affiliates, "KKR") today announced the formation of a joint venture with Hines and Pinto Realty Partners to develop Pinto Business Park, a 971-acre master-planned business park located at the corner of Beltway 8 and Interstate 45 in Houston, Texas.

Under the terms of the agreement, Hines and KKR have exclusive rights to develop the business park, which is owned by Pinto Realty Partners, a subsidiary of Cockrell Interests Inc. The partnership will primarily look to pursue an industrial build-to-suit strategy for credit tenants.

Located in the heart of Houston's north/northwest submarkets, where industrial vacancy rates are some of the lowest in the country, Pinto Business Park is Houston's largest development-ready business park in Houston. With drainage, detention, roads and infrastructure already designed, the site is shovel- ready, with tracts available for immediate construction and delivery.

The development program includes an immediate focus on build-to-suit transactions and individual land sales to corporate end- users.

"Pinto Business Park will offer manufacturing clients the benefits of a large-scale, controlled business park setting, and distribution clients the benefit of a second-to-none location that has frontage and eight access points on the city's main connections to Houston and its surrounding markets," said Palmer Letzerich, managing director at Hines.

When fully built out, the park represents an opportunity of nine million square feet. Tenants will benefit from the business park's location, which is proximate to Bush Intercontinental Airport, downtown and the Port of Houston.

With vacancy at a 35-year low, ongoing positive absorption, increasing values and moderate new construction, the Houston industrial real estate market continues to be one of the strongest in the country.

"We are looking forward to leveraging the partnership's development capabilities and access to capital on a site that we have owned for over 20 years," said Ernie D. Cockrell, managing director of Pinto Realty Partners. "With entitlements and development capital in place, now is the time to transform a best-in-class site into a best-in-class development."

"We are very excited about the opportunity to partner with Pinto Realty Partners and to continue to expand our relationship with Hines, one of the world's preeminent leaders in the commercial real estate space," Ralph Rosenberg, Global Head of Real Estate at KKR.

About KKR

Founded in 1976 and led by Henry Kravis and George Roberts, KKR is a leading global investment firm with $61.5 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2012. With offices around the world, KKR manages assets through a variety of investment funds and accounts covering multiple asset classes. KKR seeks to create value by bringing operational expertise to its portfolio companies and through active oversight and monitoring of its investments. KKR complements its investment expertise and strengthens interactions with investors through its client relationships and capital markets platform. KKR is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYS: KKR) .

About Pinto Realty Partners

Pinto Realty Partners, LLC a wholly owned subsidiary of Cockrell Interests, Inc., serves as a diversified real estate investment and development platform that focuses on strategic real estate investment. Currently, Pinto Realty Partners directly owns and manages over $300 million in real estate assets. Its current portfolio includes large urban in-fill land development, a 450-acre deepwater industrial port focused on coal export and crude storage, and numerous other strategic land holdings and cash flow assets. In addition to strategic one-off deals, Pinto Realty Partners seeks exposure to markets it believes are attractive by identifying and forming relationships with talented managers.

About Hines

Hines is a privately owned real estate firm involved in real estate investment, development and property management worldwide. The firm's historical and current portfolio of projects that are underway, completed, acquired and managed for third parties includes 1,192 properties representing more than 482 million square feet of office, residential, mixed-use, industrial, hotel, medical and sports facilities, as well as large, master-planned communities and land developments. With offices in 110 cities in 18 countries, and controlled assets valued at approximately $22.9 billion, Hines is one of the largest real estate organizations in the world. Hines is also a world leader in sustainable real estate strategies, with extensive experience in LEED, ENERGY STAR®, BREEAM, Haute Qualité Environnementale and DGNB green building rating systems. Visit www.hines.com for more information.

KKR
Kristi Huller, 212-230-9722
Kristi.Huller@kkr.com

KEYWORDS: United States North America New York Texas

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