Hypo RE completes sale of asset management subsidiary

Germany property financier Hypo Real Estate said on Thursday that it had completed the sale of its Collineo Asset Management subsidiary to private bank group Sal. Oppenheim.

The sale was announced originally on 4 September. Hypo Real Estate said at the time that it did not expect the closing of the transaction to have a material impact on its earnings. The financial details were not disclosed.

Collineo is a financial services provider for structured financial products. The company is based in Dortmund, and employs 22 people. It offers advisory services for financial products to German and international investors, and focuses on management of portfolios of mortgage backed securities, asset backed securities and collateralised debt obligations in Europe and the US.

Thomas Glynn, then a member of Hypo Real Estate's management board responsible for capital markets and asset management, said the divestment would allow the group to focus on its core business of commercial real estate lending.

Separately on Thursday, it was announced that Glynn had resigned from Hypo's management board. The lender said the move was within the context of restructuring of the bank. Hypo Real Estate's management team has undergone several changes since the group had to negotiate a EUR 50 bn public-private facility in October 2008 to survive the credit crisis.

Glynn will continue to work for the group as an executive director of Depfa Bank in Ireland, while Kai Wilhelm Franzmeyer will assume Glynn's group-wide responsibilities within the management board of Hypo Real Estate.