BayernLB is expanding its real estate business in the Netherlands and will be opening its own sales office this year in Amsterdam as of 1 July, the German bank has revealed.
The focus of the bank will be commercial real estate customers from the Netherlands.
In early 2022 BayernLB launched its Immo2024 programme, which comprised a new positioning of its real estate acitivies in its domestic as well as international branches in New York, London, Paris and Milan, in order to be even closer to its customers and the real estate markets.
The firm said that setting up an office in Amsterdam was the next step in that strategy.
'The Netherlands is a European hub, which makes it a highly attractive market for commercial real estate. With our experienced specialists and vast real estate financing expertise, we see solid potential for growth there that matches perfectly with our conservative risk profile and goal of further diversification of our portfolio.
'By having a sales office in the heart of Amsterdam, we’ll be directly on site for our Dutch real estate customers and therefore able to serve them with the same high level of quality enjoyed at our other locations,' said Gero Bergmann, management board member of BayernLB.
As head of the Amsterdam office, Christoph Schmitz-Wenzel, 53, will start up the location which will then be complemented with further staffing.
Schmitz-Wenzel began his career at BayernLB in 1995 as a trainee. A since-then proven specialist in the international commercial real estate business, he will be transferring from Munich to Amsterdam.
Schmitz-Wenzel’s in-depth real estate experience, especially in the UK and the Benelux countries, dates back as long as 1997. He also had taken up different posts, both at the Munich head office and outside Germany, in
financing and risk management.
Alexander Huber, who manages the bank’s international real estate division, commented: 'We’re very happy that we could get Christoph Schmitz-Wenzel to head the set-up and establishment of our branch in the Netherlands and establish us further in the market.'
The BayernLB Group already has a foothold in Amsterdam – through its real estate asset management subsidiary Real IS, which opened an office in the Dutch city in 2018.
