pbb leads on €810m of loans

pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank is lending €430m to German developer and asset manager Aurelis Real Estate Management,  refinancing loans maturing in December 2016. A further €100m is being provided by an undisclosed lender.

The maturity of the debt is staggered between 3 and 7 years, with most of it maturing in 2022.

Gerhard Meitinger, head of real estate finance Germany at pbb, said: “Aurelis has been a long-time client of pbb and has over the past years managed its real estate portfolio very successfully. The newly structured financing provides Aurelis with increased scope of action.”

Joachim Wieland, chief executive of Aurelis, said: “This refinancing provides Aurelis with additional entrepreneurial and financial flexibility for acquisitions and investments into its rental and development portfolio. Based on this long term agreement, we will continue to implement our strategy of targeted expansion of our portfolio.”

Aurelis, formerly part of Deutsche Bahn and now 93% owned by private equity firm Grove, is reported to be planning an IPO. Most of its projects are  in the fast-growing areas of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, and the Rhine-Ruhr and Rhine-Main region.

pbb has also teamed up with  Investitionsbank Berlin to provide  ADO Properties with €280m for its €375m purchase of a Berlin based residential portfolio. The bank led the financing providing €155m,  with Investitionsbank Berlin lending €125m. The loan has a seven-year term term, paying interest of around 1.7%.

The portfolio, acquired from Deutsche Wohnen in December, comprises 5,749 residential units in Berlin’s Spandau and Reinickendorf districts plus 68 commercial units. The acquisition enlarges the Israeli-owned ADO’s German residential portfolio to approximately 14,000 residential units.

“There is a high demand for affordable housing and this level of demand will continue for the foreseeable future. The market in Berlin continues to offer pbb, as a real estate financier, great opportunities, ” said Meitinger.

Mr Rabin Savion, chief executive of ADO Properties, said the company was focused on generating value from undermanaged residential assets in Germany. “We see attractive value potential in the Berlin residential real estate market and increasing demand for apartments in the city’s outskirts as a reaction to continuously rising rent levels in inner-city locations,” he said.

The units in the portfolio were built between 1965 and 1997 and occupancy rate is currently over 96%.