Listed property group Immofinanz has announced plans to sell off 50% of its fully-owned residential arm Buwog as a first step towards its strategy to list the unit on the Frankfurt stock exchange next year.
Listed property group Immofinanz has announced plans to sell off 50% of its fully-owned residential arm Buwog as a first step towards its strategy to list the unit on the Frankfurt stock exchange next year.
In a statement on Wednesday, Immofinanz said the sale of the majority holding in Buwog will take place through a spin-off or initial public offering.
'Since its privatisation in 2004, Buwog has completed an impressive transformation from its original position as a housing company for civil servants into a professional full-service residential property company,' commented Daniel Riedl, the newly appointed CEO of the residential subsidiary.
The shift in the Buwog portfolio's geographic focus from Austria to Germany will allow the company to enjoy higher demand from investors, while supporting an increase in the gross rental yield across the entire Immofinanz portfolio, he added. 'This step on the capital market represents a further important milestone in the company’s history.'
Riedl - formerly chief operating officer at Immofinanz - was appointed as new CEO of Buwog and will remain on the Immofinanz executive board until Buwog's planned listing. He is responsible for real estate development, management and transactions in the residential segment as well as personnel, IT and marketing.
Buwog owns around 27,200 residential units in Austria and roughly 6,300 in Germany. The company also manages 2,300 residential, office, retail and hotel properties with 3.8 million m2 of usable space together with its facility management subsidiary Buwog FM.
