German lenders: March round-up

After a sluggish start to the year, German lenders are starting to loosen their purse strings again.

Earlier this month, pbb Pfandbriefbank teamed up with Helaba to provide a €225m loan facility to funds affiliated with MCAP Global Finance, the UK-subsidiary of the New York based investment manager Marathon Asset Management. The loan refinanced debt secured on an office-led portfolio of 13 assets located throughout the Netherlands. The transaction closed in December 2016.

‘Our growing debt portfolio in the Netherlands demonstrates our appetite to continue to support both local and international real estate investors and asset managers,’ said Norbert Müller, head of real estate finance, Continental Europe West, at pbb.

And, in the UK, pbb provided a £147m facility (approx. €174m) to subsidiaries of Prologis UK Logistics Venture SCSp (UKLV), a joint venture with CBRE Global Investment Partners, managed by Prologis UKLV GP Sàrl. The transaction closed at the end of February. The proceeds of the facility will be used to refinance three newly constructed logistics distribution centres, and to finance the development of four additional ones, all located in the UK.

Also this month, Münchener Hypothekenbank underwrote Deutsche Telekom’s headquarters building in Bonn. After fully underwriting the loan, MünchenerHyp securitized 50% of it. The complex is located in Bonn and is fully let to Deutsche Telekom. The loan on the 81,000 sqm property was made to a Korean consortium led by Meritz Securities. The size of the loan has not been disclosed.

‘We are very pleased to have been able to finance this very impressive building complex in a central office location in Bonn that has very good transport links,’ said Jan Polland, MünchenerHyp’s head of direct customers.

Over in Munich, BayernLB financed developer OFB’s construction of the ‘Kap West' development in the city for around €145m. The 42,000 sqm scheme will include around 35,000 sqm of office space. It is due to be completed in mid-2019.

German lenders had a strong 2016, beating expectations in many cases. Helaba underwrote €10.4b in new business last year, ahead of its goal of €8b. It would like to underwrite an additional €8b this year. BerlinHyp underwrote € 6b in new business loans last year, an increase of 10 % on 2015 (€ 5.4b). It hasn’t released a forecast for this year. Aareal Bank, for its part, underwrote € 9.2b in new business last year, and expects to do between €7b and €8b this year. Deutsche Hypo did €4.5b of new business last year, an increase of 11.4%. pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank generated €10.5b of new business last year, down from €12b in 2015.