Wikipedia

Vonovia

Vonovia is a European multinational real estate company based in Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia.[1] Its history goes back to Deutsche Annington,[2] which merged with GAGFAH and was subsequently renamed Vonovia.[3][4] The company currently owns around 565,000 apartments in Germany, Sweden, and Austria, establishing it a significant market player in these countries.[5][6] Vonovia is a member of the DAX 40 and STOXX Europe 600 blue-chip indexes.[7]

Vonovia SE
FormerlyDeutsche Annington
Company typePublic (societas Europaea)
FWB: VNA
DAX Component
ISINDE000A1ML7J1
IndustryReal estate
PredecessorGAGFAH
Founded2001; 23 years ago (2001) in Düsseldorf, Germany
Headquarters
Bochum
,
Germany
Areas served
  • Germany (84%)
  • Sweden (11%)
  • Austria (5%)
Key people
RevenueDecrease €4.400 billion (2020)
Increase €1,909.8 million (2020)
Total assetsIncrease €58,910.7 million (2020)
Total equityIncrease €21,069.7 million (2019)
Number of employees
Increase 10,345 (2019)
Subsidiaries
  • BUWOG
  • Hembla Group
  • Victoria Park
Websitevonovia.de
Footnotes / references
Annual Report 2020

By taking over competitors such as Viterra, Gagfah and most recently Deutsche Wohnen, Vonovia has become the market leader and the largest real estate company for private apartments in Germany.

History

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Early years

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At the end of the 1990s, the German government decided to privatize homes for railway workers as part of the railway reform.[8][9] The Japanese financial group Nomura Holdings and its subsidiary Deutsche Annington (named after Annington Homes from Great Britain) sought to acquire them.[2] After years of negotiations, the company finally received a significant share in 2000.[10][11] The company responded to criticism of the sale with extensive exclusive rights, such as a lifetime right of residence and a restriction on rent increases.[12] Besides, tenants were allowed to purchase their property.[13] In the following years, Deutsche Annington invested in further smaller stocks of railway workers' apartments, which had previously remained in the ownership of the federal government.[14]

Acquisitions

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Deutsche Annington took over several smaller holdings, for example, from Allianz and RWE.[15][16] In 2003, the E.ON energy group also put its real estate business up for sale under the name Viterra.[17] With the acquisition of over 150,000 apartments, Deutsche Annington became the market leader in Germany.[18] It was the largest transaction of its kind in the country's history,[19] which met with criticism from unions and tenant protection associations alike.[20] In the course of this, Terra Firma Capital Partner's majority shareholding in Deutsche Annington was repeatedly brought up as a central theme.[21][22]

Deutsche Annington achieved its returns with a combination of renting and selling apartments. It was instrumental in shaping the concept of socially responsible tenant privatization.[23] In this way, the company wanted to raise funds to expand its portfolio to half a million and later even to one million apartments.[24] In 2007, Deutsche Annington announced that it would again turn away from tenant privatization. From then on, the company concentrated on smaller acquisitions,[25][26] such as the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe's subsidiary Corpus.[27]

Going public

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In 2010, the profit of Deutsche Annington exceeded the 500 million euro mark for the first time.[28] Nevertheless, the global economic and financial crisis made access to cheap debt capital more difficult. Refinancing became one of the main problems of the entire real estate industry.[29] For this reason, an IPO was back on the agenda.[30][31] To this end, the company hired Rolf Buch, a former member of the Bertelsmann executive board, as CEO.[32] He emphasized above all the size of the company as a distinguishing feature.[33] The rise in key interest rates dampened the interest of potential investors so that the IPO had to be postponed several times.[34][35] In 2013, Deutsche Annington finally placed its shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange with a lower volume and a reduced issue price.[36][37] Two years later, the company became the first representative of the real estate industry to be included in the DAX, the index of the largest listed stock corporations in Germany.[38]

Vonovia origins

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The media had already reported on Deutsche Annington's interest in GAGFAH in 2003.[39] At the end of 2014, Deutsche Annington then officially offered to take over the competitor for around 3.9 billion euros to create a leading residential property group in Europe.[40][41][42] Following the approval of the shareholders and the antitrust authorities, the transaction was completed ahead of schedule in March 2015.[43][44][45] In 2015, the annual General Meeting voted to rename the company Vonovia to modernize its external image.[4] The administrative and statutory headquarters were moved to the new offices in Bochum.[46][47]

European expansion

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In contrast, initially, Vonovia failed with its 2015 offer for Deutsche Wohnen[48][49] but at least prevented Deutsche Wohnen's planned merger with LEG Immobilien.[50][51] The company then turned to the neighboring states: A strategic partnership was agreed upon with the French housing company Société Nationale Immobilière (now CNC Habitat)[52] in 2017.[53] The acquisition of Conwert Immobilien and BUWOG made Vonovia the leading real estate group in Austria in 2018.[54][55][56] In the same year, the company exceeded the threshold of 50% of the shares in the Swedish housing company Victoria Park,[57] which has been 100% owned by Vonovia since 2019.[58] Vonovia expanded its position thereby acquiring its Swedish rival Hembla.[59] A renewed attempt at taking over Deutsche Wohnen in May 2021 was approved by the Federal Cartel Office but stalled when the 50% threshold was not met at first. Only the third offer from August 2021 resulted in more than 60% acceptances, thus successfully completing the takeover.

Company

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Vonovia is a European stock company (Societas Europaea, SE for short).[1] Its shares are traded on the regulated market (Prime Standard) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.[60] They are part of the DAX and listed in the STOXX Europe, MSCI Germany, and EPRA, for example.[61] According to the Deutsche Börse definition, more than 90% are in free float. Vonovia's largest shareholders include the American fund company BlackRock (7.5%) and the Norwegian central bank Norges Bank (6.6%).[62] The majority of investors are pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, international asset managers, and other long-term investors. There are also individual shareholders.[63]

The company's constitution follows the dual system of an executive board ("Vorstand") and a controlling body board ("Aufsichtsrat").[64] Currently, Vonovia is managed by Rolf Buch (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer), Arnd Fittkau, Helene von Roeder, and Daniel Riedl.[65] The supervisory board of Vonovia has twelve members,[66] led by Jürgen Fitschen, former Co-Chairman of the management board of Deutsche Bank.[67][68]

Portfolio

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According to the annual report 2019, Vonovia owned 416,236 residential units, 138,176 garages and parking spaces, as well as 6,748 commercial units. These extended to 653 domestic and foreign cities and municipalities. Based on a total fair market value of more than 52 billion euros, the vast majority of the portfolio was located in Germany (84%), with the remainder in Sweden (11%), and Austria (5%). Also, 78,691 apartments were managed by Vonovia on behalf of third parties.[69]

Controversy

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Main article: Deutsche Wohnen & Co. enteignen

As of 27 September 2021 Vonovia owns the majority of shares in German real estate company Deutsche Wohnen. Deutsche Wohnen announced a voluntary public takeover offer.[70][71] The consolidation of Deutsche Wohnen and Vonovia would significantly increase its market share in states like Berlin. In a public referendum held one day earlier, the majority of Berliners decided in favour of nationalising the housing stocks of large residential property companies. Vonovia CEO Rolf Buch responded to the referendum outcome by saying "Expropriation won't solve the many challenges in Berlin's housing market. In view of such major challenges, Berlin cannot afford years of deadlock ".[72] Vonovia and Deutsche Wohnen agreed to sell 14,000 apartments to the state of Berlin.[73]

Sustainability

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The German landlord reports their contribution to the UN SDG's like CO2 neutrality. Every year targets are formulated and the sustainability performance is reported on. This data is audited by the statutory auditor.[74]

In September 2021 Vonovia announced plans for solar panels on 30,000 roofs by 2050. As of September 2021 only 1000 roofs are equipped with solar panels despite supporting the SDG climate goals confirm the UN COP21 Paris Agreement.[75][76]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Unternehmensregister" (in German). Bundesanzeiger Verlag. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  2. ^ a b Bernd Wittkowski (9 May 1998). "Ein Markt von 500.000 Wohneinheiten: Die neue Deutsche Annington strebt eine führende Position an". Börsen-Zeitung (in German). p. 12.
  3. ^ "Deutsche Annington will Gagfah kaufen". Finance Magazin (in German). 1 December 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  4. ^ a b "Neues Image: Aus Annington soll Vonovia werden". Die Welt (in German). 21 March 2015. p. 15.
  5. ^ Volker ter Haseborg (18 December 2018). "Wie Vonovia-Chef Rolf Buch ein Immobilienimperium formte". Wirtschaftswoche (in German). Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  6. ^ Götz Hamann (10 September 2015). "Er kann es doch". Die Zeit (in German). Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  7. ^ Christoph Rottwilm (4 September 2015). "Aufstieg mit Schattenseiten: Vonovia kommt in den DAX". Manager Magazin (in German). Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  8. ^ "117.000 Eisenbahnerwohnungen stehen kurz vor dem Verkauf". Handelsblatt (in German). 16 April 1998. p. 7.
  9. ^ "Wohnungsheer in Staatshand". Saarbrücker Zeitung (in German). 21 August 1998.
  10. ^ "Bahnwohnungen: Nomura erhält Mammutanteil". WirtschaftsWoche (in German). 23 November 2000. p. 13.
  11. ^ Sabine Rössing (16 June 2000). "Nomura-Tochter tritt ein zweites Mal an". Financial Times Deutschland (in German). p. 22.
  12. ^ "5,1 Milliarden für Verkehrsminister – Verkauf der Bahnwohnungen ist umstritten". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). 1 December 2000. p. 24.
  13. ^ Robert Ummen (8 March 2002). "Deutsche Annington verkauft Bahnwohnungen an die Mieter". Die Welt (in German). p. 16.
  14. ^ Manfred Schulze (22 December 2001). "Eisenbahner-Wohnungen: Drei Viertel des Bestandes verkauft. Übernahme durch Annington-Gruppe an 217 Standorten". Mitteldeutsche Zeitung (in German).
  15. ^ "Deutsche Annington übernimmt 322 Allianz-Wohnungen". Die Welt (in German). 28 April 2004. p. 24.
  16. ^ Monika Hillemacher (20 December 2004). "Deutsche Annington kauft RWE-Wohnungen". Immobilien-Zeitung (in German).
  17. ^ "Viterra fühlt sich bereit für den Verkauf". Handelsblatt (in German). 17 December 2003. p. 16.
  18. ^ "Deutsche Annington erwirbt Viterra". Handelsblatt (in German). 11 May 2005. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  19. ^ Martin Kessler (18 May 2005). "Der Wohnungsdeal des Jahres". Rheinische Post (in German).
  20. ^ "Kein Vertrauen in fremde Vermieter". Handelsblatt (in German). 7 October 2005. p. 7.
  21. ^ "Sieben-Milliarden-Deal: E.ON verkauft 152.000 Wohnungen an britischen Investor". Spiegel Online (in German). 17 May 2005. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  22. ^ "Eon verkauft Viterra an britische Investmentfirma". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). 17 May 2005. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  23. ^ Manfred Waldmann (13 January 2005). "Immer mehr Mieter wollen ihre Wohnung kaufen". Die Welt (in German). p. 23.
  24. ^ Reinhard Hönighaus (19 August 2005). "Deutsche Annington setzt Einkaufstour fort". Financial Times Deutschland (in German). p. 17.
  25. ^ Christoph Ruhkamp (18 January 2007). "Kurswechsel bei Börsenkandidat Annington". Börsen-Zeitung (in German). p. 1.
  26. ^ "Ehrgeizige Pläne". Bonner General-Anzeiger (in German). 7 August 2006. p. 18.
  27. ^ Christoph Ruhkamp (18 January 2007). "Wohnungs-Deal: Annington kauft Paket von Corpus". Börsen-Zeitung (in German). p. 2.
  28. ^ Reiner Reichel (26 April 2011). "Annington macht sich hübsch für die Börse". Handelsblatt (in German). p. 36.
  29. ^ Jörg Petring (9 November 2011). "Gagfah und Annington machen keine Fortschritte – Refinanzierung bleibt Hauptproblem der Wohnungskonzerne". Financial Times Deutschland (in German). p. 16.
  30. ^ "Annington wählt Banken für Börsengang aus". Handelsblatt (in German). 25 February 2013. p. 32.
  31. ^ "Kreise: Annington kommt Milliarden-Börsengang näher". Handelsblatt (in German). 7 May 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  32. ^ Hans-Peter Siebenhaar, Reiner Reichel (1 March 2013). "Der neue Herr im Haus". Handelsblatt (in German). p. 70.
  33. ^ Walther Becker (11 June 2013). ""Größe ist wichtiges Differenzierungsmerkmal"". Börsen-Zeitung (in German). p. 13.
  34. ^ Heidi Rohde, Annette Becker (8 June 2013). "Störfeuer züngelt an Annington-IPO". Börsen-Zeitung (in German). p. 10.
  35. ^ "Annington-Börsengang stößt auf Skepsis". Handelsblatt (in German). 26 June 2013. p. 31.
  36. ^ "Deutsche Annington geht nun doch an die Börse". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). 9 July 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  37. ^ Norbert Schwaldt (10 July 2013). "Deutsche Annington versucht es mit der Brechstange". Die Welt (in German). p. 13.
  38. ^ Stefan Schaaf (5 September 2015). "Vonovia mietet sich im Dax ein: Mit der früheren Annington gehört dem deutschen Leitindex erstmals ein Immobilienunternehmen an". Börsen-Zeitung (in German). p. 17.
  39. ^ Michael Gassmann (2 October 2003). "Deutsche Annington plant Gebot für Immobiliengruppe Gagfah – Rentenversicherer BfA verkauft 80 000 Mietwohnungen". Financial Times Deutschland (in German). p. 12.
  40. ^ "Annington bietet für Gagfah: Ein Immobilien-Koloss für eine Million Mieter". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). 1 December 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  41. ^ "Deutsche Annington soll an Gagfah verkauft werden". Handelsblatt (in German). 5 March 2007. p. 23.
  42. ^ Manfred Waldmann (6 March 2007). "Elefantenhochzeit am Wohnungsmarkt: Finanzinvestor Terra Firma bietet Deutsche Annington zum Verkauf an – als "Traumpartner" wird die Gagfah genannt". Die Welt (in German). p. 23.
  43. ^ "Annington mit Übernahmeofferte für Gagfah erfolgreich". WirtschaftsWoche (in German). 21 January 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  44. ^ "Fusion von Annington und Gagfah genehmigt". WirtschaftsWoche (in German). 28 January 2015. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  45. ^ "Annington schließt Gagfah-Übernahme ab". Immobilien-Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  46. ^ Andreas Rorowski (7 December 2015). "Immobilienriese Vonovia bleibt in Bochum". Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  47. ^ "Vonovia ist künftig zu 100 Prozent ein Bochumer Unternehmen". Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). 17 May 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  48. ^ "Vonovia will Deutsche Wohnen übernehmen". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). 14 October 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  49. ^ Ursula Schwarzer, Sven Clausen (14 October 2015). "Hausmeister der Republik: Vonovia bietet Milliardendeal an". Manager Magazin (in German). Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  50. ^ "Deutsche Wohnen bläst LEG-Übernahme ab". n-tv (in German). 21 October 2015. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  51. ^ Alexander Hübner, Kathrin Jones, Arno Schuetze (22 October 2015). "Deutsche Wohnen gibt LEG auf – Etappensieg für Vonovia" (in German). Reuters. Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 20 August 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  52. ^ Barbara Kiraly (30 January 2018). "Logement social : SNI devient CDC Habitat". Le Moniteur (in French). Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  53. ^ Michael Psotta (28 October 2017). "Risiko in Frankreich". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  54. ^ "Vonovia und Conwert: Übernahme geglückt". Handelsblatt (in German). 19 December 2016. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  55. ^ "Vonovia-Angebot für Buwog erfolgreich". Der Standard (in German). 12 March 2018. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  56. ^ "Vonovia auf Weg zum größten Immobilienkonzern in Österreich". Salzburger Nachrichten (in German). 13 March 2018. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  57. ^ "Vonovia übernimmt schwedischen Wohnungskonzern Victoria Park". Handelsblatt (in German). 18 June 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  58. ^ Thomas Bergmann (25 April 2019). "Vonovia will die Schweden zu 100 %". Der Aktionär (in German). Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  59. ^ Christoph Rottwilm (23 September 2019). "Milliardendeal: Vonovia baut Portfolio in Schweden aus". Manager Magazin (in German). Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  60. ^ "Vonovia" (in German). Börse Frankfurt. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  61. ^ Olaf Weber (1 June 2019). "Weichen des Erfolgs frühzeitig stellen". Börsen-Zeitung (in German). p. 6.
  62. ^ "Shareholder Structure". Vonovia. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  63. ^ "Aktionärsverteilung". Der Aktionär (in German). Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  64. ^ "Articles of Association" (in German). Vonovia. 7 June 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  65. ^ "Management Board" (in German). Vonovia. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  66. ^ "Supervisory Board" (in German). Vonovia. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
  67. ^ "Vonovia beruft Jürgen Fitschen". Faz.net (in German). 5 March 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  68. ^ Reiner Reichel (11 May 2018). "Fitschens Neuanfang". Handelsblatt (in German). p. 38.
  69. ^ "Portfolio in the Property Management Business" (in German). Vonovia. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  70. ^ "Vonovia reaches threshold for Deutsche Wohnen takeover". Reuters. 27 September 2021.
  71. ^ "Investor Relations – Deutsche Wohnen". ir.deutsche-wohnen.com. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  72. ^ "Vonovia SE: Vonovia on the election of the Berlin House of Representatives and the referendum to expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co.: Berlin needs a new way of working together on housing – dgap.de". www.dgap.de. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  73. ^ "Mega-Deal in Berlin trotz Volksentscheids: Immobilienkonzern Heimstaden zeigt keine Angst vor Enteignung". Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German). Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  74. ^ "ESG – Vonovia – Investor Relations". Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  75. ^ "German landlord Vonovia to install solar panels on 30,000 roofs by 2050". Renewablesnow.com. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  76. ^ "News Detail – Vonovia – Investor Relations". Retrieved 27 September 2021.
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