ING Real Estate’s portfolio, including real estate finance, increased to € 47 billion at the end of June from € 42 billion at the end of 2003, driven mainly by the real estate investment management activities.
ING Real Estate Investment Management’s assets under management increased by € 3.1 billion, due in part to the purchase of Rodamco Asia (accounting for almost € 800 million in assets). In addition, the ING Clarion Global Real Estate Income Fund, which was launched in the US in the first quarter with € 1.3 billion in asssets, has grown to more than € 2.0 billion in assets.
ING Real Estate Finance continued the international expansion of its activities, notably in the US and Spain. In the first half it completed a major refinancing of the real estate portfolio for Vendex KBB in close cooperation with ING Bank.
ING Real Estate Development showed high turnover of development projects. In the first half, € 495 million of projects were sold to institutional investors, compared with € 950 million for full-year 2003. Sales included the Spanish shopping centres Vitoria, San Vicente, Logrono, Berceo and Castellon. In addition, a contract was signed with the municipality of Maastricht in the Netherlands for the redevelopment of the Belvedere industrial area into a residential area with 4,000 houses.
The banking asset management units, including ING Real Estate and Baring Asset Management, increased their operating profit before tax to € 140 million from € 58 million in the first half last year. ING Real Estate posted an operating profit before tax of € 118 million, up from € 50 million in the first half of 2003, including € 26 million from the transfer of the ING Real Estate Investment Management companies from insurance to banking. Excluding that impact, operating profit before tax rose 55.3%, driven by strong revenue growth across all business lines and substantially higher profits from the finance and development activities in the first half of 2004. The purcha;se of Rodamco Asia NV was consolidated in June, adding about € 800 million in assets. Pre-tax profit of Baring Asset Management rose to € 22 million from € 2 million.
Source: ING Group
