ING’s Monterosso swaps Milan for Frankfurt

Michele Monterosso, the co-head of ING Real Estate Finance’s Italian lending business, has been appointed to lead the Dutch bank’s German and Austrian property lending activities.

Monterosso, who will take on his new role as head of real estate finance for Germany and Austria from October, was previously responsible for the origination, structuring, execution and management of a portfolio of Italian commercial real estate loans. He joined ING in 2006 after periods working for KPMG and Cushman & Wakefield.

The organisation’s real estate finance activities sit within the lending services division of ING Wholesale Banking. Real estate lending is led globally by Annerie Vreugdenhil. In a recent interview with Real Estate Capital, Vreugdenhil explained that Germany is a significant area of focus for the bank.

“We are a very big bank in Germany; we have a huge German savings bank. So, like the domestic institutions … we have a lot of liabilities, so we need assets. Germany is one of our main focus countries in which to grow,” Vreugdenhil said.

“We have a Pfandbrief licence and an online bank there, so we have the benefits of cheap funding in Germany and the execution capabilities of an international bank, which is a very strong combination,” she added.

In January, ING partnered with Berlin Hyp in the long-term financing of the TanusTurm office tower in Frankfurt for Tishman Speyer. In February, the bank provided €230 million with LBBW to refinance the Cityhold Office Partnership, with two-thirds of the portfolio located in Hamburg.

Speaking about Monterosso’s appointment in Germany and Austria, Gerlach Jacobs, head of structured finance at ING Wholesale Banking Germany and Austria, said: “[Monterosso’s] long track record in the commercial real estate sector and his strong relationships with many international clients and investors will help us to further develop and grow our REF franchise in Germany and Austria, and also seek a further internationalisation of the German REF portfolio.”