IMMOFINANZ is a commercial real-estate company that focuses its activities on the retail and office segments of seven core markets in Europe: : Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Poland. The core business includes the management and development of properties. The company has a real estate portfolio of approx. EUR 5.1 billion that covers more than 210 properties, as of 31 October 2019. The company is listed on the stock exchanges in Vienna and Warsaw. As of October 2015, it is a member of the Austrian Traded Index, the index of the twenty largest companies traded on the Vienna stock exchange. 'Immo' is short for Immobilien, German for property.
History
C & S Immobilien Anlagen Aktiengesellschaft was established in April 1990 as a joint venture company owned by Constantia Privatbank and Bankhaus Schoeller & Co. In November 1994, C & S Immobilien Anlagen Aktiengesellschaft was merged into IMMOFINANZ, which had previously been established with the name of CPAG Immobilienvermietungs GmbH, had become a public company and been renamed C & S Realitäten Anlagen Aktiengesellschaft. Following the merger with C & S Immobilien Anlagen Aktiengesellschaft, the name was changed to IMMOFINANZ IMMOBILIEN ANLAGEN AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT. In 1991, the shares in C & S Immobilien Anlagen Aktiengesellschaft were admitted to the Second Regulated Market on the Vienna Stock Exchange, and from 1994 the shares of IMMOFINANZ. In 1996 the first capital increase was carried out and in the same year IMMOFINANZ shares were admitted to the Official Market on the Vienna Stock Exchange. In September 2006, the name was changed to IMMOFINANZ AG. In May 2013, the secondary listing of the shares on the Warsaw Stock Exchange took place. IMMOFINANZ is present today in Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Poland. The core business includes the asset management and development of properties. Active portfolio management and utilisation of profitable sales opportunities ensures ongoing optimisation of the standing investment portfolio. With the sale of the entire logistics portfolio, which was completed at the beginning of February 2016, IMMOFINANZ placed its strategic focus on the office and retail asset classes in its core markets.
In the summer of 2008, international real estate and financial markets were hit by severe turbulence. Constantia Privatbank AG, which, under the directorship of Petrikovics and Gertner, was responsible for the management of IMMOFINANZ, failed to react to the changed circumstances. These developments, along with poor management decisions, the correctness of which were/are the subject of criminal investigations, caused a crisis at IMMOFINANZ. In the wake of the global financial and economic crisis and the accompanying falling securities prices, IMMOFINANZ shares also came under strong pressure. For IMMOFINANZ, what was probably the most difficult phase in the history of the company up to that point began.
The company today
As a commercial real estate company, IMMOFINANZ focuses on both the retail and office asset classes. In the office sector, the company ranks among the largest providers of space in many of the capital cities in its core markets. In Germany, IMMOFINANZ is constructing the new corporate head offices for trivago und Uniper in Düsseldorf. The IMMOFINANZ brand world was expanded during 2016 financial year to also include an international office brand named myhive. Characteristic features of myhiveoffice buildings are: hotel inspired atmosphere, versatile infrastructure, international community, cooperation opportunities and networking as well as flexibility. In September 2016 the company Currently the third office project in the Düsseldorfer Medienhafen is under construction for IMMOFINANZ’s standing investment portfolio. This high-rise is designed as a multi-tenant building and will be the first office building under the IMMOFINANZ brand myhive in Germany. In retail, the group concentrates on its two brands, STOP SHOP und VIVO!. STOP SHOP comprises retail parks in Austria and Eastern Europe, featuring a standardised format and a tenant mix. The STOP SHOP locations are predominantly in catchment areas with 30,000 to 150,000 residents and have lettable space of 3,000 sqm to 15,000 sqm. VIVO! is a quality shopping center brand developed by IMMOFINANZ that focuses on fashion and entertainment. Immofinanz has been involved in a series of negotiations regarding a takeover or merger with its fellow ATX member CA Immo, also a property development company. Merger negotiations failed in 2014, as did an acrimonious takeover bid by CA Immo in spring 2015. In August 2016 IMMOFINANZ has announced, that approximately 26% of the CA IMMO shares were acquired. This acquisition was a first step towards a possible full combination of IMMOFINANZ and CA Immo by way of a statutory merger. End of February 2018, the Supervisory Board and Executive Board of IMMOFINANZ decided to continue the suspension of detailed discussions over a possible merger between CA Immo and IMMOFINANZ and to also evaluate other strategic options. In July 2018, the Supervisory Board approved the package sale of the approximately 26% investment in CA Immo to SOF-11 Starlight S.à r.l., a member company of the Starwood Capital Group. The closing of this transaction took place on 27 September 2018.
