Profile: Gerhard Niesslein, the network builder

In these times of tight credit and market caution, trust is a valued asset - something no one knows better than Gerhard Niesslein, CEO of Germany's largest listed property group IVG.

At Expo Real in October, he said the survival of the Bonn-based company had hinged on an old banking relationship which had enabled him to secure EUR 1.3 bn in refinancing from a group of German banks. 'In February I told the banks to give us six months and said that after that they could pull the plug if necessary,' Niesslein told PropertyEU. 'Everyone was surprised that IVG was able to refinance EUR 1.3 bn and it was probably due to his contacts in banking and government,' Osmaan Malik, a property analyst with JP Morgan Chase & Co, told the Wall Street Journal recently.

Niesslein himself concedes it was a 'big advantage' that no foreign banks were involved and that none of the loans were securitised. 'That will hurt many companies over the next few years,' he predicted.

The full profile of Gerhard Niesslein appears in the December edition of PropertyEU Magazine. Click on the link below to subscribe.