Wiesbaden (dpa/lhe) - Aareal Bank increased its profit in the third quarter despite another burden related to an office complex in Russia. Due to significantly higher interest income, the operating result increased by almost a third to 66 million euros compared to the same period last year, as the commercial real estate financier announced on Thursday in Wiesbaden. A surplus of 39 million euros was attributable to the shareholders, almost twice as much as in the same period of the previous year.
CEO Jochen Klösges therefore sees the bank still on the way to an operating profit of around 210 million euros this year - the lower end of the target range that the board had set on the first day of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.
Aareal Bank had already scaled back its business in Russia significantly in previous years, but still has a loan of around EUR 200 million for an office complex in Moscow. "Although the customer is able and willing to pay, the debt service is still not affordable due to the sanctions imposed in Russia," said the bank. The institute has therefore made a risk provision for 126 million euros.
Aareal Bank is about to be taken over by the financial investors Advent and Centerbridge and the Canadian pension fund CPPIB. The alliance has already secured around 84 percent of the shares. The deal should be completed by early 2023 at the latest. The Aareal Bank share is still traded on the stock exchange, but was dropped from the SDax small-cap index in September.
