WestImmo renewed commercial real estate loans to the tune of €1.5 bn in 2012.
WestImmo renewed commercial real estate loans to the tune of €1.5 bn in 2012.
This is more than double the amount reported in the same period a year before (€0.7 bn), the German bank said in its full-year results. Germany represented around one fifth of the volume while other European countries accounted for about half the volume.
WestImmo returned into positive territory last year, posting net earnings of €0.1 mln versus a loss of €203 mln a year before. In 2012 the property lender worked on reducing potential risks from the sovereign debt crisis by selling off its entire portfolio of Greek government bonds and significantly decreasing its holdings of Italian government debt.
However, the bank will continue not to take on any new business until a sale of the business is finalised. The lender has not been allowed to provide new loans since July 2012 following a decision to restructure its ailing parent company WestLB.
In the absence of new business, management said it expects to see a much lower refinancing requirement in 2013 than in previous years.
The bank is currently owned by bad-bank Erste Abwicklungsanstalt (EAA), which acquired all shares in WestImmo under the terms of the WestLB restructuring.
WestImmo and EAA confirmed that they are still focusing their efforts on a sale of the real estate bank. A first attempt to sell WestImmo to Apollo fell through in 2011 and the bank has since failed to find another buyer.
PropertyEU is holding a European debt briefing update in Frankfurt on 23 April.
