NORD/LB and ERGO Versicherungsgruppe finance a €87 million acquisition in Berlin (DE)

NORD/LB Norddeutsche Landesbank has, together with ERGO Versicherungsgruppe, provided finance for the acquisition of a residential property portfolio by Gewobag Berlin in the amount of €87 million. €54 million of the loan is financed by ERGO with a fixed interest rate for 20 years. The residential housing portfolio comprises 1,058 residential and commercial units in Berlin, which Gewobag has integrated into its total portfolio of 58,000 residential units.
The collateral for the finance provided by the consortium partner ERGO Versicherungsgruppe was provided by registering in NORD/LB’s refinancing register. From this year, when acquiring credit portfolios, insurance companies and pension funds can register the mortgages associated with the receivables in a refinancing register. “This makes the refinancing of large property portfolios easier and more efficient,” explains Eckhard Forst, who is a member of NORD/LB’s Managing Board and is responsible for corporate customer business, which also includes housing.
NORD/LB is therefore one of the first banks in the housing segment to enter into a loan syndication with the registration of an insurance company in the refinancing register. It has therefore answered the increasing demand of institutional investors looking for alternative investment opportunities in an environment of low interest rates. “We have increased our refinancing options and can release equity to award new loans by reducing risk-weighted assets,” explains Dr. Hinrich Holm, who is responsible on NORD/LB’s Managing Board for capital market business. “In doing so we enable further growth in the bank’s housing segment and support the relationship between municipal housing and the socially-responsible provision of housing in Berlin,” explains Holm.
Source: NORD/LB