About Aareal Bank

Aareal Bank AG (The Bank), headquartered in Wiesbaden, Germany, is a international Property Bank listed in Deutsche Börse’s MDAX index. Aareal Bank is active in three core business segments: Structured Property Financing, Consulting / Services and Property Asset Management. The bank has a presence in twelve European countries, plus the US, and covers clients in 17 countries. The client base comprises major international property investors, as well as top domestic names. Structured Property Financing is Aareal Bank’s most profitable business segment. Besides experts for office buildings, Aareal Bank employs specialist teams for financing shopping centres, hotels and bespoke properties for the logistics business – the combination of these seasoned industry experts with sound country and regional knowledge is the key to optimising the bank’s financing solutions for the most diverse client groups and projects. In its Consulting / Services segment, Aareal Bank Group offers a comprehensive range of services, among other things to the property management sector. Its subsidiary Aareon AG is a leading consultancy and systems house for the management of residential and commercial property. Aareon's software solutions are employed by more than 50,000 users to manage some 8 million residential and commercial properties, of which about 1.5 million are outside Germany. The company has entered into a cooperation with SAP to explore new customer groups. It is from this segment that Aareal Bank Group offers its expertise and know-how in the retail business to other financial services providers. Aareal Hypotheken Vermittlungs GmbH is the a German discount broker for retail property financing, acting as broker to a number of banks and insurance companies for pre-approved finance. At the same time, the company has been entrusted by other banks and insurance companies with providing mortgage advisory services on their behalf. Aareal Hypotheken-Management GmbH, another Aareal Bank Group subsidiary, uses a highly-developed IT platform to carry out the complete processing for private residential mortgages – from automatic credit award decisions to credit administration – to financial services providers outside the Group. Immobilien Scout 24, where Aareal Bank holds a 30% stake, is a convenient Internet platform for renting and letting residential or commercial property, as well as for selling and buying property. Investment banking for the property sector complements the service offering in the Consulting/Services segment. Property Asset Management, Aareal Bank’s third business segment, offers a choice of diversified investment opportunities to institutional investors in closed-end property funds. The bank is in the process of enhancing this product offer to include special investment funds under German law (Spezialfonds). In this context, the major benefits of Aareal Bank’s international network and sector expertise are available to insurance companies and pension funds, for whom the establishment of their own pan-European property investment infrastructure is simply not feasible. Aareal Bank is a founder member of INREV (Association for Investors in Non-listed Real Estate Vehicles), a European organisation incorporating institutional investors and property asset managers that is dedicated to enhancing the transparency of, and facilitating comparison among private property funds. Property lending / Structured finance Financing and advisory services: In addition to Germany, the bank operates in the property finance sector in a further 14 European countries as well as the USA. The bank offers its clients the financing and advisory services they expect from the banking partner of their choice. The bank’s products include structured finance for commercial property, portfolio financing and advisory services. Consultancy / Services The Consultancy/Services comprise IT, Property Consultancy and other services in the Private Clients segment. In IT, the emphasis is primarily on developing standard software for the commercial housing industry. Here, individual advice and product customization are key features and help to further business process optimization. In addition, for private clients the bank offers an extensive choice of products, ranging from financing brokerage, processing and administering property loans through to a virtual marketplace where houses and apartments can be bought and sold or rented out online. Asset Mangement Aareal Bank has set up a property asset management company, Amsterdambased Aareal Property Services B.V., whose team of experts will primarily approach institutional investors. The remit of Aareal Property Services B.V. is to identify and acquire properties which offer attractive initial returns and appreciation in value through active asset management. To further enhance its expertise in structuring and placement, in November 2000 Aareal Bank acquired Deutsche Structured Finance GmbH, a specialist institution for initiating, arranging and structuring taxoptimized asset and project financing solutions. It also develops creative opportunities for entrepreneurial investment in capital assets. At present, its activities focus on special purpose property offering aboveaverage potential returns, but also on regenerative energy projects and the financing of aircraft. In November 2000, the bank launched its first mutual fund investing in the field of regenerative energy and set new standards in structuring, documenting and marketing investments in wind energy. The primary objective of aircraft funds initiated by Deutsche Structured Finance GmbH is to offer investors a stake in the entrepreneurial potential. Although tax-optimized structures are used to enhance the returns, the clear focus is on the income generated through the aircraft. In 1996, Deutsche Structured Finance GmbH was the first issuer to offer investments based on operating leases. The cyclical nature of the aircraft market is reflected by the conservative structure of investments made. Another key subsidiary of Aareal Bank in the asset management business is Aareal Immobilien Management AG, a project development advisor and manager of closedend property funds in Germany.