REG-Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft Commerzbank expands asset management significantly with majority stake in Aquila Capital Investmentgesellschaft – growth accelerator for sustainability business

COMMERZBANK AGAnnouncement

18/01/2024 09:45

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   Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft (CZB)
   Commerzbank expands asset management significantly with majority stake in
   Aquila Capital Investmentgesellschaft – growth accelerator for
   sustainability business

   18-Jan-2024 / 10:34 CET/CEST
   The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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     • Commerzbank acquires 74.9 per cent in Aquila Capital
       Investmentgesellschaft – Group’s real asset portfolio grows to more
       than €40 billion
     • Aquila Capital Investmentgesellschaft to make a significant
       contribution to the planned growth in commission income – access to
       sales network of the company and project development of Aquila Group
       offer international growth potential
     • Private and Small-Business Customers board member Thomas Schaufler:
       “The majority stake in Aquila Capital Investmentgesellschaft is a
       milestone on the way to our goal to take a leading role in offering
       sustainable projects to our customers. We are significantly expanding
       the range of products in sustainable asset management for our
       customers.”

   Commerzbank AG is accelerating its growth in the sustainability business
   by acquiring a majority stake in the asset manager Aquila Capital
   Investmentgesellschaft headquartered in Hamburg. It was agreed with Aquila
   Group to acquire 74.9 per cent of the investment company’s shares, which
   is specialized in essential assets such as renewable energies and
   infrastructure projects. 25.1 per cent of the shares are to remain with
   the current parent company Aquila Group. Under the umbrella of
   Commerzbank, Aquila Capital Investmentgesellschaft will develop into a
   leading asset manager for sustainable investment strategies. With Commerz
   Real and Aquila Capital Investmentgesellschaft, Commerzbank will
   significantly drive forward the energy transition in Germany and Europe.

   Since it was founded in 2001, the business which is now bundled in the
   Aquila Capital Investmentgesellschaft has grown profitably. With around
   200 employees, the company manages sustainable real asset portfolios with
   a focus on renewable energies for more than 300 predominantly
   institutional investors. Aquila Capital Investmentgesellschaft will make
   an important contribution to the planned commission income growth and 2027
   revenue targets of Commerzbank. Together with Commerz Real, the real asset
   portfolio in the Group is to grow to more than €40 billion. The
   transaction is subject to regulatory approvals. The closing is expected in
   the second quarter of 2024.

   Aquila Capital Investmentgesellschaft will continue its successful growth
   path as a largely independent entity, with autonomy on the investment
   side, within Commerzbank Group. The current management team will remain on
   board as will Aquila Group’s co-founder Roman Rosslenbroich. He will join
   the shareholders’ committee which is involved in the operating business of
   Aquila Capital Investmentgesellschaft. The common goal is to use Aquila
   Capital Investmentgesellschaft with its agile corporate culture, its
   international locations, and its access to the network of Aquila Group
   including the product development units also as a platform for future
   joint international growth. The financial details of the transaction are
   not disclosed.

   “As the Bank for Germany, we have the ambition to actively shape the
   sustainable transformation of the economy and to direct financial flows
   into green projects. The strategic partnership with the Aquila Group and
   the majority stake in Aquila Capital Investmentgesellschaft are growth
   accelerators for our dedication to sustainable investments. Aquila Capital
   Investmentgesellschaft excellently complements our expertise in
   Commerzbank and Commerz Real. With the transaction, we are significantly
   increasing the range of products in sustainable asset management for our
   customers and will expand our market position even faster. We are very
   well positioned with Yellowfin, Commerz Real, our stake in Aquila Capital
   Investmentgesellschaft, and our wealth management.” said Thomas Schaufler,
   Member of the Board of Managing Directors responsible for Private and
   Small-Business Customers.

   “Since 2006, the core focus of our business at Aquila Group has been to
   contribute to the decarbonisation of the global economy. The shift towards
   renewable energy and a ’green industrialisation’ opens up investment
   opportunities that not only offer attractive returns but will also become
   increasingly important due to the rapidly growing capital requirements in
   the coming years. Against this backdrop, we are intensifying our efforts
   to mobilise private capital. The partnership with Commerzbank
   significantly expands our client network, facilitates the swift
   development of new, attractive investment products aimed at a net-zero
   economy and strengthens Aquila Group's position in the market. Together
   with Commerzbank, we plan to significantly enhance Aquila Capital
   Investmentgesellschaft’s prominent role as a sustainable real asset
   investor and expand it internationally,” said Roman Rosslenbroich,
   Co-Founder and CEO of Aquila Group .

    

   Press contact
   Kathrin Ruhland  +49 69 935345787
   Erik Nebel   +49 69 935345712

   Contact for investors
   Ansgar Herkert   +49 69 935347706

    

   About Commerzbank
   Commerzbank is the leading bank for the German Mittelstand and a strong
   partner for around 26,000 corporate client groups and almost 11 million
   private and small-business customers in Germany. The Bank’s two Business
   Segments – Private and Small-Business Customers and Corporate Clients –
   offer a comprehensive portfolio of financial services. Commerzbank
   transacts approximately 30 per cent of Germany’s foreign trade and is
   present internationally in more than 40 countries in the corporate
   clients’ business. The Bank focusses on the German Mittelstand, large
   corporates, and institutional clients. As part of its international
   business, Commerzbank supports clients with a business relationship to
   Germany, Austria, or Switzerland and companies operating in selected
   future-oriented industries. In the Private and Small-Business Customers
   segment, the Bank is at the side of its customers with its brands
   Commerzbank and comdirect: online and mobile, in the advisory centre, and
   personally in its branches. Its Polish subsidiary mBank S.A. is an
   innovative digital bank that serves approximately 5.7 million private and
   corporate customers, predominantly in Poland, as well as in the Czech
   Republic and Slovakia.

   Disclaimer
   This release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
   statements are statements that are not historical facts. In this release,
   these statements concern inter alia the expected future business of
   Commerzbank, efficiency gains and expected synergies, expected growth
   prospects and other opportunities for an increase in value of Commerzbank
   as well as expected future financial results, restructuring costs and
   other financial developments and information. These forward-looking
   statements are based on the management’s current plans, expectations,
   estimates and projections. They are subject to a number of assumptions and
   involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may
   cause actual results and developments to differ materially from any future
   results and developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking
   statements. Such factors include the conditions in the financial markets
   in Germany, in Europe, in the USA and other regions from which Commerzbank
   derives a substantial portion of its revenues and in which Commerzbank
   holds a substantial portion of its assets, the development of asset prices
   and market volatility, especially due to the ongoing European debt crisis,
   potential defaults of borrowers or trading counterparties, the
   implementation of its strategic initiatives to improve its business model,
   the reliability of its risk management policies, procedures and methods,
   risks arising as a result of regulatory change and other risks.
   Forward-looking statements therefore speak only as of the date they are
   made. Commerzbank has no obligation to update or release any revisions to
   the forward-looking statements contained in this release to reflect events
   or circumstances after the date of this release.

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   Dissemination of a Regulatory Announcement, transmitted by EQS Group.
   The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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   ISIN:          DE000CBK1001
   Category Code: MSCU
   TIDM:          CZB
   LEI Code:      851WYGNLUQLFZBSYGB56
   Sequence No.:  298359
   EQS News ID:   1818009


    
   End of Announcement EQS News Service

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