OREANDA-NEWS. December 13, 2007. Sistema-Hals (LSE, MICEX, RTS: HALS), a leading diversified company in the Russian and CIS real estate market, today announced the signing of a strategic partnership agreement with Hebei Construction Group, a Chinese state-owned company, to carry out development projects in Russia.

Under the agreement, Sistema-Hals plans to engage Hebei Construction Group as a general contractor to carry out construction work on certain of its development projects for a pre-agreed set fee for each project. In addition, Sistema-Hals and Hebei Construction Group intend to set up a joint venture to carry out other construction work in Russia.

The first project where Sistema-Hals envisages the involvement of Hebei Construction Group as a general contractor will be the business-class "Emerald Valley" residential complex at 28A Yelninskaya Street, Moscow. The property is being built as part of the complex reconstruction of the Kuntsevo district and when completed will cover an area of more than 60,000m².

"With its world-class expertise in construction technology, and its highly professional management and workforce, Hebei Construction Group is able to offer the full range of construction services using first-rate materials. By combining the strength and know-how of Sistema-Hals and Hebei Construction Group we believe that this strategic partnership will result in synergies which will improve the efficiency of operations in our development projects, as well as cutting costs," said Felix Evtushenkov, President of JSC Sistema-Hals.

"The agreement with Sistema-Hals will open up a range of opportunities for exploiting the potential of Hebei Construction Group in Russia and the CIS. The partnership between our two companies will be of a strategic nature and will not be restricted to the execution of contractual construction work", said Zhang Xiuming, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Hebei Construction Group.