The 6th Baader Investment Conference gained further momentum yesterday. On the second of four days, 27 companies held presentations. In addition, we arranged more than 350 individual and small-group meetings between investors and nearly 50 companies.

Here the key takeaways of Immofinanz (Speaker Stefan Schönauer, CFO)

The potential merger with CA Immo is the growth story of Immofinanz. Regarding the disposal of the Russian assets (a precondition for the merger), the CFO is very confident to be able to close the disposal until year-end. A next important step for the company is to get an investment grade credit rating (conditions: lower LTV, disposal of Russian assets).

Business outlook:

Declining financing costs will be a strong FFO driver in 2017 and also in 2018 (convertible bond due mid-2018 currently in the money). Future refinancing needs are limited (assuming a conversion of the CB). The disposal program for non-core assets is on track. The dividend of EUR 0.06 was confirmed.

Points of interest:

As Immofinanz’s retail business is focused on small retail parks for daily shopping, competition from online-shopping is not a topic (particularly not in CEE). In case there is no merger with CA Immo, Immofinanz’ management will have a plan B. Main lesson learned from Russia is that the purchasing power is extremely volatile.