TRANSACTION ANNOUNCEMENT
 

Aareal Bank provides financing to Vertiq Capital for two upscale hotels in London and Paris

Wiesbaden, 6 July 2022 – Aareal Bank announces the closing of a financing agreement totalling € 140 million with investment manager Vertiq Capital. The financing was disbursed as two separate loans, respectively entailing the refinancing of the 25hours Paris Terminus Nord in Paris and the acquisition financing of the Bankside Hotel, Autograph Collection in London. The latter was assessed and qualified as a Green Loan under Aareal Bank’s third-party certified Green Finance Framework.

Superbly located in the up-and-coming 10^th arrondissement of the French capital, the 25hours Paris Terminus Nord is a trendy hotel featuring 237 rooms and suites, along with the popular Neni Restaurant and Sape Bar. The Bankside, Autograph Collection is a similarly attractive upscale hotel, newly built just off the River Thames in South Bank as part of the One Blackfriars Development of London. The 161-room property was constructed according to BREEAM Excellent standards and is committed to incorporating sustainability in its day-to-day operations.

“We are pleased to announce our inaugural transaction with Vertiq”, stated Bettina Graef-Parker, Managing Director, Special Property Finance at Aareal Bank. “Despite new political and economic uncertainties, the travel industry has seen a strong recovery since Covid-related restrictions have been gradually lifted. We are therefore strengthened in our view that the hotel sector has a high degree of resilience and will continue looking to expand our loan portfolio through carefully selected top-tier properties in prime locations.”

“We have chosen to work with Aareal on these loans because of their expertise in hotel financing and in-depth knowledge of and commitment to the hotel market in general. Their ability to work swiftly in different jurisdictions against a tight timeline has made it a real pleasure to work with the Aareal hotel team”, said Erik Jacobs, Partner at Vertiq Capital.

Vertiq Capital is a real estate investment manager with a focus on hospitality and other operational assets. The 25hours Paris Terminus Nord and the Bankside Hotel, Autograph Collection are part of a growing pan-European strategy to invest in upscale lifestyle hotels across the key urban markets in Europe. Vertiq will work with various capital partners to execute its investment strategies.

Vertiq Capital Partners was advised by CMS in London and SKBG in Paris. Aareal was advised by DLA Piper and De Pardieu for legal matters and HVS for valuation.

Contact for the media:

Oliver Tross
Phone: +49 611 348 348 2183
Mobile: +49 175 4357 559
oliver.tross@aareal-bank.com

Aareal Bank Group

Aareal Bank Group, headquartered in Wiesbaden, is a leading international property specialist. It provides smart financings, software products, and digital solutions for the property sector and related industries, and is present across three continents: Europe, North America and Asia/Pacific. Aareal Bank Group’s business strategy focuses on sustainable business success, with environmental, social and governance aspects as an integral part of this strategy. Aareal Bank AG, whose shares are included in Deutsche Börse’s SDAX index, is the Group’s parent entity. It manages the various entities organised in the Group’s business segments: Structured Property Financing, Banking & Digital Solutions, and Aareon. The Structured Property Financing segment encompasses all of Aareal Bank Group’s property financing and funding activities. Here, the Bank supports its clients in making large-volume commercial property investments. The investment properties mostly comprise office buildings, hotels, shopping centres, logistics and residential property, as well as student apartments. In the Banking & Digital Solutions segment, Aareal Bank Group supports businesses from the housing, property management and energy industries as a digitalisation partner – combining extensive advisory services and product solutions with traditional corporate banking services and deposit-taking. Its subsidiary Aareon, the leading supplier of ERP software and digital solutions for the European property sector and its partners, represents the third business segment. Aareon is digitalising the property industry by offering user-oriented software solutions that simplify and automate processes, support sustainable and energy-efficient operations, and interconnect all process participants.