Status: 23.11.2021 10:54 a.m.
Wiesbaden-based Aareal Bank has found new partners after years of uncertainty. The two financial investors Advent and Centerbridge want to buy the money house – for a billion amount.
Wiesbaden-based real estate financier Aareal Bank has agreed on a takeover with investment companies from London and New York. After that, investors want Advent International Corp. and Centerbridge Partners will acquire all of the bank’s shares at a single price of EUR 29. This would mean that the institute, which was relegated to the SDAX index for small values, would be valued at 1.74 billion euros. The takeover offer provides for a minimum acceptance threshold of 70 percent of the shares.
The offer documents are expected to be published in mid-December. Aareal Bank boss Jochen Klösges, who has only been running the bank since mid-September, described the offer as “in the best interests of the company and its shareholders”. According to him, a complete takeover of the institute by financial investors was not one of his goals. “We weren’t looking for these talks,” he emphasized last week. “The investors approached us.”
Black numbers expected again
Klösges was once a member of the board of the long-liquidated Eurohypo, formerly one of the largest real estate financiers in Europe and a subsidiary of Commerzbank. After the long-time CEO of Aareal Bank, Hermann Josef Merkens, had to resign due to illness in the spring, the choice fell on the Cologne Klösges.
Aareal Bank found itself in difficult waters in the wake of the corona pandemic. The institute posted a loss last year, but is likely to recover somewhat this year. After what the bank sees as a “positive” third quarter, the board of directors is aiming for a pre-tax profit of between 100 and 175 million euros for 2021. Thanks to a result of 50 million in the summer, there are already 123 million euros to book after the first nine months.
The commercial real estate business is considered difficult and relatively risky. Without financially strong partners, the opportunities for development remain limited. Aareal Bank has also struggled to develop new business areas so far, apart from the software subsidiary Aareon.