Stricken German lender WestLB, which received state aid following the financial crisis in 2008, will transfer a portfolio valued at around EUR 100 bn, including WestImmo, to Germany's so-called 'bad bank' EAA on 30 June 2012.
Stricken German lender WestLB, which received state aid following the financial crisis in 2008, will transfer a portfolio valued at around EUR 100 bn, including WestImmo, to Germany's so-called 'bad bank' EAA on 30 June 2012.
'The EAA will then try to sell WestImmo,' a WestLB spokesman told PropertyEU. There is no timeline in place for the sale and all 400 staff will also be transferred across, he added. WestLB failed to sell WestImmo to Apollo last year and has since struggled to find another buyer.
The transfer comes just days after Commerzbank announced its was withdrawing from commercial property lending altogether. The bank cited the ongoing sovereign debt crisis and the uncertain regulatory environment - including Basel III - as factors behind its decision.
As a result, commercial real estate and ship finance will be fully transferred to the newly created ‘non-core assets’ division for disposal. Commerzbank has already earmarked EUR 131 bn of assets for disposal, including EUR 31 bn in non-core real estate, EUR 4 bn in non-core residential and EUR 96 bn in public finance.
Details regarding the sale of the non-core assets have not yet been disclosed, although Stefan Otto, head of ship financing at Commerzbank, has said that fire sales are not on the cards. A Commerzbank spokesman told PropertyEU that further details concerning real estate sales will be made available on 9 August when the lender publishes its results for the first half of the year.
