Allianz seeking to underwrite ‘billions of euros’ of loans

German insurer Allianz is seeking to underwrite ‘billions of euros’ of real estate loans over the next five years, in a bid to beef up its exposure to the sector, Helmut Mühlhofer, head of debt and capital markets at Allianz Real Estate in Munich, told PropertyEU on Tuesday.

‘It’s important to show the market that there’s a new source of debt capital. Ideally, we would like to underwrite loans of between EUR 100 mln and EUR 200 mln. We could underwrite billions of euros of real estate loans within the next five years,’ he said.

For now, Allianz is focusing on the German lending market, although Mühlhofer said that the insurer could start to look at lending in neighbouring countries such as France next year. ‘We already have a strong equity presence in France,’ he explained.

Allianz typically underwrites loans for prime offices and dominant shopping centres in Germany’s major cities, including Frankfurt and Hamburg, with LTVs in the range of 50% to 65%, although it will go as high as 70%, Mühlhofer said. It is currently not underwriting loans on hotels, student housing, care homes and development projects, he added.

It made its first foray into the real estate lending sector in June, with a loan to DWS fund, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank.

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