Retired Chairman of Citigroup to speak at Real Estate Investment World Summit in Saudi Arabia

This year, the Summit has assumed even greater importance. Not only will it explore investment opportunities, it will also look at the issues arising from how the present economic conditions impact on the real estate industry in the Middle East region, with a special focus on Saudi Arabia.

In response to the current worldwide situation, the Summit will focus on the impact of the credit crunch on the international real estate and investment markets, investor sentiments and trust, the risks and returns of Islamic financing, legal perspectives on the current economic crisis as well as advice to investors and developers.

This year's event brings together eminent visionaries including the leading international finance icon and accomplished corporate leader, Sir Winfried Bischoff, retired Chairman of Citigroup, who will participate in the discussion panel 'Beyond the financial crisis: What next?'. His innovations in leadership and ability to sustain results over a long period of time will add cutting-edge input to this discussion.

Sir Win of Citigroup commented:

"Governments around the world are putting in place different measures to combat the financial crisis, which is expected to be more severe than any other of the last 75 years. Arising from these efforts will be opportunities for recovery and growth. The Riyadh Summit will be an important occasion to examine these potential positive developments for the future."

Due to his distinguished and successful career background and seeing the financial turbulence of the last 12 months at a close hand, Sir Winfried Bischoff has insightful recommendations on how to take advantage of upcoming trends.

Sir Winfried was born in Aachen, Germany in 1941 and in 1955 moved to South Africa, earning a degree in business from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1961.

After a brief stint at the Chase Manhattan Bank, he joined the financial division of J Henry Schroder & Co in 1966, rising to become managing director of Schroders Asia in 1971, group chief executive in 1984 and chairman in 1995. Under his chairmanship, Schroders rose dramatically in value - the company was valued at £30m when he took the helm and in 2000 the investment banking division was sold to Citigroup for £1.3bn. For his work at Schroders he was awarded a knighthood in 2000.

Sir Winfried has been associated with Citi or portions of companies acquired by Citi for almost all of his entire working life. He held directorship positions at Cable and Wireless plc for over a decade, IFIL - Finanziaria di Partecipazioni SpA, Italy, Siemens Holdings plc, The McGraw-Hill Companies and Land Securities plc, Eli Lilly and Company, Akbank Turkey, and Prudential plc.