Allianz edges nearer to EUR 1b real estate loan target

German insurer Allianz has edged closer to its EUR 1 bn loan target after providing a EUR 650 mln facility secured against Oberhausen-based shopping centre, Centro, together with German banks Aareal Real Estate and Helaba,

According to Helmut Mühlhofer, head of debt and capital markets at Allianz, the loan 'perfectly fits our strategic objectives to provide conservative long term loans secured by well performing assets which are owned by highly professional sponsors’.

So far, Allianz has made EUR 560 mln in retail loans this year, or EUR 800 mln of loans overall. ‘We would like to do one billion euros of loans this year, but only for the right assets,’ Mühlhofer told PropertyEU. ‘Having no investment pressure, we can be very picky and wait for the right opportunities. As a lender we have a bit more flexibility because we are not only focused on new acquisitions but also on re-financing opportunities, such as Centro. However, the number of large volume, high quality asset opportunities are limited and competition is still quite intense,’ he added.

For Aareal Bank, the transaction marks ‘a successful example of the potential that banks and insurers can have by entering a co-operation regarding the financing of commercial property’, according to Dr. Wolf Schumacher, chairman of the management board at Aareal Bank.

The financing was provided to a joint venture between Florida-based investors, the Stadium Group, and the Canadian Pension Plan investment board, who jointly own the EUR 1.3bn shopping centre in the heart of Germany’s Ruhrgebiet.