Wiesbaden, 1 February 2019 – Aareal Bank Group has acquired all the shares in plusForta GmbH, a market-leading broker of tenant deposit guarantees in Germany. The deal expands Aareal Bank Group's range of property industry services while also strengthening its digital solutions offering for the housing industry and its clients. Both parties have agreed not to disclose the terms of the transaction.
plusForta GmbH, which is headquartered in Düsseldorf and also has an office in Berlin, was formed in 2008 by SchneiderGolling & Cie. Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH and Capitol Immobilien GmbH. The company successfully brokers deposit guarantees furnished by R+V Versicherung and Württembergische Versicherung to clients via two online platforms, kautionsfrei.de and kautionsfuchs.de. Deposit guarantees have already become established as an alternative to cash deposits, and are accepted as tenant security deposits.
The service is aimed at tenants of residential apartments and commercial property. Roughly 160,000 guarantee agreements have been brokered to date. plusForta is part of a national network in Germany that also comprises well-known partners in the property, financial and insurance sectors.
"Our acquisition of plusForta represents a further step in the implementation of our 'Aareal 2020' programme. It allows us not only to extend our value chain, but also to consolidate our position in the deposit guarantee sector. The move provides our property industry clients with one-stop shopping for tenant security guarantees. This is an important milestone on our way towards becoming the leading provider of digital tenant deposit solutions for the property industry", said Aareal Bank AG Management Board member Thomas Ortmanns.
"We are delighted that we have found a forward-looking strategic partner in Aareal Bank. Not only do we complement the Bank's service portfolio, but the tie-up will allow us to roll out our digital offering to an even greater range of clients than before", said Robert Litwak, plusForta GmbH's Managing Director.
