Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft - CMVM

36 MANAGEMENT REPORT
Independent Commerzbank research
Research activities are increasingly focused on a core German expertise across
all asset classes, geared to the needs of both institutional and corporate customers.
In different independent surveys, we performed exceptionally well,
underlining our approach of offering absolutely independent research that
meets high quality standards.
Real Estate department
Our Real Estate department has remained unchanged, comprising Commerz
Leasing und Immobilien AG (CLI), Düsseldorf, and Commerz Grundbesitz Gesellschaft
GmbH (CGG), Wiesbaden. Once again, it achieved an encouraging profit
contribution of about 7100m.
CLI – a leading German leasing company
Despite a difficult overall economic and tax framework, our subsidiary CLI was
able to strengthen its position as one of the leading and most profitable German
leasing companies. The group consists of CommerzLeasing und Immobilien AG
together with 13 subsidiaries and four equity participations, covering the entire
spectrum of leasing and real-estate business. Last year, it generated its largest
volume of new business to date, at 72.5bn, with expansion fuelled by activities
in Germany. The leasing of moveable goods grew by a particularly dynamic 22%.
All in all, the CLI group asserted its market position in the real-estate area,
which includes – apart from the leasing of property and large moveable goods –
structural financings and funds, and further expanded it in the leasing of moveable
goods. At end-2003, the overall portfolio of contracts amounted to 723bn.
The year’s most important transactions were:
In real-estate/structured investments, a leasing contract for a fund-based
plan of over 7400m for the new head office of a major company, a major
municipal investment with a volume of more than 7300m and a 7100m supplier
financing for investment in machinery and equipment by an automobile
components supplier.
In the fund area, the inclusion of five ships of identical construction in a shipping
fleet fund with a volume of US$167m and a stadium fund of 7163m. In
addition, a project development plan was implemented in Düsseldorf with
roughly 22,000 square metres of office space and included in a closed-end
property fund. As a result, the overall volume of investors’ capital held in
funds rose to 73.4bn, representing 82,000 individual investments.
In the leasing of moveable goods, the acquisition of Hansa Automobil
Leasing GmbH and also the integration of ComSystems GmbH, a company
for the leasing of hardware and software, sold by DaimlerChrysler in 2002.