HSH Nordbank Finances GWB Immobilien
Financing Volume of Euro 39 Million
Hambrg/Kiel, September 20, 2007 - HSH Nordbank AG has made available financing in a total volume of Euro 39 million for the construction of the Postgalerie mall in Speyer, Germany. The latter is a GWB Immobilien project development for a new shopping centre in downtown Speyer, a town located on the left bank of the Rhine.
The planned modern shopping centre will have retail space on four levels, and is scheduled for completion in early 2009. The building, which will integrate existing historic structures, is laid out for a gross floor-space of 29,000 m² plus 18,600 m² in rental space. The loan funds made available by HSH Nordbank are earmarked for financing a total investment volume of Euro 46 million.
“The retail property market manifests a very heterogeneous development, differentiated by individual types of operation. Its strategy has enabled GWB to develop a profitable growth niche. We expect that modern shopping centres in attractive downtown locations will be among the winners on the retail property market,” says Claudio Lagemann, Global Head of Real Estate at HSH Nordbank. “Due to their location and the moderate new construction volume in this segment, tenant demand for this kind of mall is relatively stable, while the vacancy risk has remained comparatively low.”
GWB Immobilien AG is seated in Siek near Hamburg, and was founded in 1992; its IPO was placed in October of 2006. The company specialises in planning, developing, raising and letting retail space, and in doing so concentrates specifically on shopping malls and special retail centres in medium-sized and smaller towns. Since its inception, GWB completed about 50 projects. In addition to reselling its proprietary developments, GWB is planning to set up its own portfolio, the idea being to continue to acquire shopping malls, then to modernise and optimise them in terms of tenancy structure.
HSH Nordbank AG is a strong regional bank in Northern Europe with total assets of € 190 billion. Some 4,600 of the bank’s employees provide corporate and high net-worth clients around the globe with premium bank products and services. In its core region of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, it is the market leader in the corporate customer segment. HSH Nordbank is an acknowledged partner of the capital markets and international sector specialist. Its main focus is on transportation and real estate. In fact, HSH Nordbank is the world’s largest provider of ship finance and covers the entire value chain in the transportation segment. In the area of real estate, HSH Nordbank is one of the strongest banks in Germany, acting as a provider of services relating to all aspects of real estate. For more information please visit our website at www.hsh-nordbank.com.
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