Germany's Helaba Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen said the business volume of its real estate financing came to EUR 41 bn in the first half of 2009 - almost the same level as year-end 2008. Real estate business began positively at the Paris branch which was newly established at the beginning of the year.

Germany's Helaba Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen said the business volume of its real estate financing came to EUR 41 bn in the first half of 2009 - almost the same level as year-end 2008. Real estate business began positively at the Paris branch which was newly established at the beginning of the year.

A large part of the new loans was with domestic customers.

In asset management, Helaba Invest again developed very positively, with a rise in the volume under management in special funds of 17.5% to EUR 50 bn. Measured in terms of inflow of funds, the company now ranks as No. 2 in the German special funds market. Its market share at mid-year increased from 6.4% to 7.4%

Helaba ended the first six months of fiscal 2009 with an IFRS group pre-tax profit of EUR 273 mln. This represents an increase of EUR 153 mln compared with the same period a year earlier.