News
01/03/05: BulwienGesa AG’s New Business Segment – Property Rating
As previously announced in the press, BulwienGesa AG has now moved into property rating as a new business segment.
The primary driver behind this development was not the discussion on Basel II and its financial requirements, but rather the increasing internationalization of the property business and the necessity of being able to compare both among properties as well as property vis-à-vis other asset classes.
The rating will focus on key aspects: On properties in their macro and micro locations, the competitive environment, the sustainability of the investment and the quality of furnishing and fittings, combined with financial parameters such as the credit-rating of the tenant and cash flow. It is based on the database of BulwienGesa AG RIWIS on the one hand, and also on the specific know-how of CBP Consulting Engineers GmbH and the URA Unternehmens Ratingagentur AG., which has been operating independently in the market for a long time now. These have been pooled into the recently established DIRA AG.
This is the first time that this comprehensive process, initiated by the SCOPE Group, has been used when rating open property funds. The process has attributed a suitably higher value (35 % proportion of the valuation) to properties for the first time..
In combination with other factors, the rating presented on September 15 this year led to an almost complete turnaround in the discussion on transparency. Whereas this first round saw just 2 funds providing BulwienGesa AG with the necessary individual data, current figures for the second round (cut-off date Dec. 31, 2004), which is due to be announced in April, show there will be around 20 (of 30) funds involved, and with DB, CGI, DIFA and DEGI these include the largest companies on the German market.
With the recently founded DIRA AG, BulwienGesa AG will be offering individual project and property ratings at different depths starting January next year, as well as ratings for whole portfolios of every structure at the national, European or international level for all kinds of use and business segments, plus ratings for particular types of offer such as closed property funds or property corporation.
11/17/04: Huge response again to the Leisure Industry Conference in Hamburg
More than four hundred participants accepted the Chamber of Commerce’s invitation to the second Hamburg Leisure Industry Conference on October 28, 2004.
The event, for which Wenzel Consulting Aktiengesellschaft helped to design the contents this year, dealt with the topic of “The Metropolitan Region of Hamburg – a Maritime Adventure Park“. Presentations by ten well-known speakers and specialists emphasized the significance of the Elbe and the port for the development of the tourism and leisure industry in the city of Hamburg. In his opening presentation entitled “Destination Water – is it Really Working?“, Carl-Otto-Wenzel gave an overview of the significance of water as an element in urban development, and stressed that there was virtually nothing as important as water for attracting tourism.
As a result of the enormous interest in this series of events, plans are already underway for the next Hamburg Leisure Industry Conference in two years.
The speakers’ presentations are now available for download from the Chamber of Commerce’s homepage (www.hk24.de).
10/26/04: MeetingPoint Middle and Eastern Europe 2004 – Fair Dresden, 4-6 november 2004
„With competence towards the new markets“ – the MeetingPoint Middle and Eastern Europe 2004 themed to this subject takes place in Dresden. Lectures, workshops and firm presentations are important parts of the fair. plan 4 21 is actively taking part in this event.
On Friday, the 5th of November at 11 o’clock plan 4 21 will present the experiences with projects in Eastern Europe. During the presentation you will find out,
- where you should transact your investments in Eastern Europe
- which perspectives does the German-Polish border-region Ostmecklenburg/Vorpommern – Voiwodship Zachodniopomorskie have
- how can a network between Polish, Lithuanian and Russian protected nature areas succesfully be developed.
The speakers are Anna Swiercz, plan 4 21 and Wolf Uwe Rilke, planungsgruppe 4 / plan 4 21.
You can find more information on www.messe-crossmedia.de
10/12/04: The conference of plan 4 21 during the EXPO REAL: “Investments location Eastern Europe” - review
The EXPO REAL is an inherent part of the events calender of plan 4 21. For the third time we took part in the most important real estate trade fair in Germany. Visitors were able to find us at the stands of Berendes & Partner Consulting and BulwienGesa AG – members of plan 4 21 – as well as at the conference of plan 4 21, which took place Tuesday, the 5th of October.
Within the scope of the conference we have presented the results of the study dealing with the topic of “Investmensts location Central Eastern Europe”, which was carried out by BulwienGesa AG, plan 4 21 and L/A/M Ladewig Asset Management GmbH. The aim of this study is to analyse the adequacy of 9 cities in Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary concerning their chances and risks for real estate investment. Beside the national capitals Warsaw, Prague and Budapest, the secondary markets Lodz, Krakow, Poznan and Szczecin (Poland), Brünn (Czech Republic) and Györ (Hungary) are analysed. With the help of a ranking system regional investment perspectives in terms of socio-economic, planning, monetary and fiscal determining factors, regionals office, trade and logistic markets are evaluated.
The big interest and the high participation has confirmed our opinion, that Central Eastern Europe still is an interesting and seminal market for property investments. However, even today it is connected with some risks and only companies with profound data and market knowledge can compete in these countries.
If you have any questions about the study, please do not hesitate to contact Mr Andreas Schulten or Mr Michael Schlatterer in the Berlin office of BulwienGesa AG phone number +49 30 2787680 or Ms. Ania Swiercz in the office of plan 4 21 phone number +49 30 89680851.
09/13/04: Conference of plan 4 21 during EXPO REAL in Munich
We invite all interested in investments in Eastern Europe to a conference of plan 4 21 “Key report: Poland – Hungary – Czech Republic. Evaluation of opportunities and threats for office, trade and logistics investments within 12 regions”. The conference will take place during the real estate exhibition EXPO REAL in Munich. The conference provides a view on investment possibilities in selected regions in Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary.
When: 5th of October 2003; 10:00 – 11:30 am
Where: conference hall B22, hall B2