News from 11/13/2007
Mönchengladbach: Axa sold "Shopping-Galerie" to DIC
Axa Investment Managers Deutschland has sold the "Shopping-Galerie" at Marienplatz in Mönchengladbach's Rheydt district. THOMAS DAILY is told by insiders that DIC Asset AG was the purchaser. Shopping-Galerie has the reputation of a highly profitable center and encompasses 25 retail stores, among them Saturn, Mayersche Buchhandlung, a branch of the supermarket chain dm, Kaiser's, and Strauss innovation.
Cologne: Detailed planning for Gerling-Quartier is proceeding
The architects' office Kister Scheithauer Gross (Cologne) has prevailed in a multi-level competition to determine the future planners of the Gerling Area. Together with the city of Cologne, Frankonia Eurobau, being the new owner of the premises, has initiated a process during which experts evaluated the plans submitted by several firms. In the existing buildings of the Gerling-Quartier as well as in buildings yet to be constructed, offices, apartments, and a luxury hotel are planned. Frankonia Eurobau has formed a joint venture with the Austrian company Immofinanz investing around €380mn into the project. The first construction phase on the site ist to be completed in 2011, the second in 2013.
Alta Fides: Rising revenues from trade and rents
In the first nine months of 2007, Alta Fides AG managed to rise its earnings as planned. By the third quarter of the current year, the concern achieved a turnover of €33.29mn (plus 79% compared to the same period in the previous year) and obtained an operating profit of €11.73mn (plus 46%). According to the company, this positive development was supported by a significantly increased turnover in the business activities of trading, managing the company's own portfolio, and selling apartments, as well as by higher revenues from rents. In addition to this, Alta Fides also explains the development by its strategy to expand its property portfolio constantly when meeting attractive enough offers, giving as an example the acquisition of 14 refurbished multifamily residences in Leipzig conducted at the beginning of November. Also, the subsidiary company Campus Real Estate AG is currently developing four projects encompassing a total of 1,300 residential units and is planning more developments right now, according to Alta Fides.
Frankfurt: Strongest office market quarter in five years
During the third quarter of the current year, numerous large-scale rentings produced a strong result in turnover on Frankfurt's office market: With a turnover amounting to 250,000 sqm of surface area, this quarter outperformed every other one within the last five years, says Dr. Lübke GmbH's current market report. In total, from January to September 2007 (Eschborn and Kaiserlei included), a turnover of around 429,000 sqm of office space was attained—18% more than during the same period of the previous year. The top rent gained in the Financial District and in the Westend amounted to €36/sqm, remaining unchanged compared to the second quarter of 2007. On very good locations, prices continued to rise. The vacancy rate sank slightly from 14.7% in the second to 14.5% in the third quarter. Besides banks, insurances, and financial service providers, consulting firms were among the biggest inquirers for office space. According to Dr. Lübke, turnover for the entire year will surpass the result achieved in 2006.
DIC Asset AG: High concern surplus due to stable earnings from rents
With €24mn, DIC Asset AG more than tripled its concern surplus compared to the first three quarters of 2006 (plus €17.6mn, meaning a 275% increase) by September 30. Predominantly, stable earnings from rents coming from a significantly grown property portfolio are responsible for this development; profits gained by selling property contributed, too. The result per share more than doubled from 0.39% to 0.83% (plus 113%). Total return in the first nine months rose by 487% from €28.5mn to €167.4mn. The earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) grew by €53.2mn to €69.8mn (plus 320%).
IVG: Sal. Oppenheim to sell just under 11% of its shares
Thomas and Andreas Strüngmann, billionaires in the pharmaceutical industry, bought a 10.97% stake in IVG by acquiring a package of shares from Sal. Oppenheim that was worth around €350mn at the stock exchange yesterday. With this transaction, the brothers become the largest single shareholding party in IVG. Sal. Oppenheim now holds only 10.1% of the shares. According to a spokesperson of the private bank, no further sales of shares in the Bonn-based family company are planned.
Bilfinger Berger: Boosted results in the third quarter
In the third quarter of the current year, construction company Bilfinger Berger AG significantly increased its operative profits, thus confirming the prognosis for all of 2007. The EBITA rose by 42% to €148mn (previous year: €104mn). The result before taxes climbed to €137mn (previous year: €99mn), the concern's profit after taxes and shares held by other participators amounted to €80mn (previous year: €61mn). The company continues to be optimistic about the current year, expecting its total earnings for all of 2007 to surpass the €100mn aimed at in earlier prognoses.
Cologne region: Hahn Group to open retail center in Zülpich
The newly constructed retail center at Bonner Straße in Zülpich (close to Euskirchen) will soon be opened. It was constructed by Hahn Immobilien-Beteiligungs AG in collaboration with TS Bau as general contractor for around €10mn. The center offers a rentable area of 5,500 sqm that is fully let. Besides the anchor tenant, an Edeka supermarket, it contains a branch of the discount store chain Aldi, two hardware stores, and a hairdresser. The construction of the center took seven months.