Roland Fuchs joins Allianz Real Estate as new finance head

Roland Fuchs has been named as head of European real estate finance at Allianz Real Estate.

He takes up the position on 1 October.

Fuchs has over 20 years of experience in the European real estate finance business, both in origination and portfolio management.

Most recently, he was managing director of the French office of German real estate financier Helaba. He confirmed in an interview with PropertyEU in early September that he was leaving to take on a pan-European mandate with a global firm at the start of October.

Allianz RE said that Fuchs had succeeded in positioning Helaba as a major bank in the French real estate financing market.

In his new role, Fuchs and his team of real estate finance experts will work closely together with the local hubs of Allianz Real Estate in France, Germany, Italy and within other European target markets to strengthen the firm's position in the commercial real estate finance sector.

Fuchs will be based in the Paris office of Allianz Real Estate and report directly to CEO Olivier Piani. He will become a member of the Allianz Real Estate executive committee.

In a reaction, Michael Kröger, general manager of real estate finance at Helaba, said the German bank remains committed to the French market following Fuchs’ departure as managing director of its French office.

Kröger said he was sorry to see Fuchs go, but congratulated him on his new position at Allianz, which he said, represented an ‘interesing new challenge’. ‘We aim to have a new replacement at our French office by the end of the year.’

Helaba has been active in real estate lending in France since 1995 and currently has a lending portfolio in the country of some €2.5 bn. This year, the German financier is targeting between €500-600 mln of new business in the French market.