IVG pulls off 5 new sales to meet EUR 1bn disposal target

IVG Immobilien announced on Friday that it has already achieved its target of EUR 1 bn of asset divestments by 2010. The sale target was the second major element of a restructuring programme formulated by IVG at the start of the year. The firm achieved the first crucial aim earlier this year when it reached an agreement with its banks on extending its financing.

Now, IVG has achieved its disposal target ahead of schedule. Following EUR 550 mln worth of sales in the first half of 2009, German's largest listed real estate group carried out five disposals around Europe in recent weeks for a total volume of almost EUR 470 mln.

As reported by PropertyEU last Thursday the largest of these was the sale of the Maciachini business centre in Milan to the property arm of Italian insurer Generali for EUR 300 mln.

The other disposals were in Paris (about EUR 50 mln), Luxembourg (about EUR 49 mln), Düsseldorf (about EUR 37 mln) and Budapest (about EUR 33 mln). The majority of the assets were sold directly on the market to private and institutional investors. At a 0.9% discount, sales proceeds were only slightly below the most recently ascertained market value, IVG said. About 50% of the sales in H1 2009 were on the market and 50% to funds.

The firm said the sales were a further considerable step towards the goal of increasing its financial flexibility and safeguarding IVG's liquidity situation in the long-term.

'Having ensured the company's stability, our work will now focus on the third step of our strategic realignment: improving the company's operations and taking advantage of selected market opportunities,' said CEO Dr Gerhard Niesslein.

IVG publishes its third quarter figures on 13 November.