German property lender Aareal appoints Christian Ricken as new CEO (updated)

Aareal Bank AG

09/04/2024 07:57

(Updates with details from paragraph 2)
       FRANKFURT, April 9 (Reuters) - Christian Ricken will
become the new chief executive officer of the German property
lender Aareal, the bank said on Tuesday, a move that comes as it
navigates a downturn in the real estate market.
        The changing of the guard follows Aareal's takeover by
private equity firms and delisting from the stock market.
  
    The banker will succeed current CEO Jochen Kloesges in
August.
        Kloesges and the bank's supervisory board agreed that
the bank "should start under new leadership its next phase of
development", Aareal said.
  
        Ricken will join from LBBW, one of Germany's big
Landesbanken, where he has been a member of the managing board
overseeing treasury, financial institutions and markets.
  
        Earlier this year, Aareal said that a quarter of its 4
billion euros in loans for U.S. offices were 
    likely to go unpaid
     and that there could be worse to come as a property rout
takes hold.
  
        Last month, its credit rating was downgraded by Moody's
and the outlook remained negative. 
  
        
  

 (Reporting by Tom Sims
Editing by Miranda Murray)
 ((Tom.Sims@thomsonreuters.com; +49 30 220 133 645;))