German lender Deutsche Hypo is planning to open an office in Warsaw next year following mounting interest in the Polish market on the part of German institutional investors.
German lender Deutsche Hypo is planning to open an office in Warsaw next year following mounting interest in the Polish market on the part of German institutional investors.
‘We plan to start operations in the country and focus on quality rather than quantity,’ Thomas Bürkle told PropertyEU during the Expo Real trade fair in Munich. The bank currently operates in Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and France.
By year-end, the lender will have generated around €3 bn worth of new lending in these markets, Bürkle added. ‘This is roughly in line with 2012 and is expected to be in line with our 2014 lending volumes as well.’
Deutsche Hypo, part of the German financial group Nord-LB, has recently announced a financing joint venture with pension fund Bayerische Versongungkammer (BVK) to finance commercial real estate of up to €500 mln. Commenting on the partnership, Bürkle said this allows Deutsche Hypo to underwrite bigger-ticket transactions while helping to distribute its capital more efficiently.
‘With the new regulations on the banking industry, the business is not so profitable anymore and we need to find new solutions. Good and reasonable partnerships allow us to leverage our equity much efficiently,’ he noted. Partnerships with mezzanine debt providers in order to provide higher loan to values can also be considered. ‘This is definitely an area worth looking into,’ he concluded.
