The first Sustainability Improvement Loan with DWS in Germany

Frankfurt am Main – In Germany ING has originated the first Sustainability Improvement Loan for a residential property with DWS: The interest margin of the €16.5 million loan with a term of 10 years is linked to specific sustainability criteria. The objective of DWS and ING is to improve the energy efficiency of "Maestro" a residential complex in Rijswijk, which is a suburb of The Hague in the Netherlands, acquired by DWS in May for one of its German open-ended real estate funds.

The building complex in Rijswijk, built in 1974, includes 160 apartments over 20 floors with eight units each and was modernized in 2000 and 2015. The new owner plans to make further CapEx investments to sustainably optimize the building's energy efficiency.

Different to a green loan, which targets investments that can already be classified as sustainable and takes this into account in the interest rate on the loan, the interest rate on the Sustainability Improvement Loan is linked to the achievements of certain sustainability criteria. This implies: More sustainability lowers the interest rate - and vice versa.

"We are very proud to have launched ING's first Sustainability Improvement Loan in Germany together with DWS," says Nico Schoenemann, Director Real Estate Finance at ING Germany. "With this loan, we are supporting DWS in improving the sustainability of its investment portfolio, here using the specific example of increasing the energy efficiency of a residential complex."

ING is one of the leading financiers of commercial real estate in the real estate finance sector worldwide with a business portfolio of about 28 billion euros.

ING Wholesale Banking Germany comprises the corporate clients business of ING in Germany and is part of the ING Group’s worldwide Wholesale Banking network with offices in more than 40 countries. ING Wholesale Banking offers banking services for large, internationally operating corporate clients. In addition to traditional banking products such as Corporate Lending and Transaction Services, ING is a world leading name in structured & project financing concepts, complemented by capital market solutions. ING Wholesale Banking Germany has approximately 300 employees based in the headquarters Frankfurt am Main who oversaw a credit volume of EUR 35 billion by the end of 2019.