Commerzbank AG — M&A Activity 2001

Nov 5, 2001

News Details

Ad-hoc | 5 November 2001 20:56

Commerzbank AG english

Major German banks plan merger of mortgage bank subsidiaries Ad-hoc-announcement processed and transmitted by DGAP. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– Commerzbank AG, Deutsche Bank AG, and Dresdner Bank AG agreed to merge their mortgage bank subsidiaries, thereby pooling the strength and exper-tise of Deutsche Hyp, Eurohypo, and Rheinhyp. In addition, commercial-property finan- cing activities of the parent banks will be integrated into the future unit. The new institution will be called Eurohypo AG. For the first time in Germany, a merger between mortgage banks is taking place across corporate boundaries. Last year, the three units involved in the merger achieved aggre-gate sales of EUR18.4 billion in commercial-property financing. In public sector financing, their combined loan portfolio amounted to EUR138.3 billion. As things stand today, the relative valuation of the mort-gage-bank subsidiaries is 30% for Deutsche Hyp and 35% each for Eurohypo and Rheinhyp. An increase in earnings is expected from 2004 onwards. The institu-tion’s target return on equity will clearly exceed the cost of capital. The merger is expected to generate cost synergies of EUR120 million a year as from 2004. The new bank is aiming for a leading market position in commercial-property financing in Germany and Europe. In addition, its mixed-bank status, as a result of the legal merger of Eurohypo and Rheinhyp into Deutsche Hyp, will permit further expansion of its opera-tions in North America and a broader range of services. Business activities will focus on providing a complete range of fi- nancing to investors in commercial real estate. end of ad-hoc-announcement (c)DGAP 05.11.2001 Issuer’s information/explanatory remarks concerning this ad-hoc-announcement: Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Certain of the statements contained herein may be statements of future expectations and other forward-looking statements that are based on management’s current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. In addition to statements, which are forward-looking by reason of context, the words “may, will, should, plans, intends, anticipates, believes, estimates, potential, or continue” and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. Actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those in such statements due to, without limitation, general economic conditions, including in particular economic conditions and markets, performance of financial markets, currency exchange rates, changing levels of competition, changes in laws and regulations, changes in the policies of central banks and/or foreign governments, and general competitive factors, in each case on a local, regional, national and / or global basis. The companies assume no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this release. ——————————————————————————– WKN: 803200; Index: DAX Listed: Amtlicher Handel in Berlin, Bremen, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, München und Stuttgart; Schweizer Börse (Hauptsegment); London, New York (ADR), Tokio 052056 Nov 01