Annual Report 2002 (pdf, 1319K) - WestLB

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Public-Sector Clients
Demand at the federal level and among
Germany’s states, municipalities and public-law
corporations for structured financing and asset
management products has continued to grow.
WestLB AG further demonstrated its extensive
expertise, harvested from its experience in
handling the needs of public-sector clients and
from offering the high-calibre products of an
internationally successful commercial bank.
Pole Position in Bond Issues
Maintained
Due to an inflated mortgage bond market, the
federal states are increasingly turning to the
capital market to finance their budgets. WestLB
was again among the leading banks in Germany
in 2002 with regard to the arranging and placement
of public bonds. We were lead arranger for
three out of a total of seven benchmark bonds
for federal states in the year under review,
earning another top ranking by the trade journal
Euromoney for issues of Municipal Bonds. In
the municipal sector, city and community bonds
should offer attractive potential over the medium
term.
Popular Partner for PPP Initiatives
Faced with budget concerns, the central,
regional and local authorities are stepping up
their efforts to find private investors to fund their
infrastructures. As one of the world’s leading
project financiers, we are closely involved in
public-private partnership (PPP) initiatives of
the Federal Republic of Germany and the State
of North Rhine-Westphalia. Our subsidiary
Westdeutsche KommunalConsult, for instance,
is preparing a project for all of the City of
Monheim’s school and sport facilities. Moreover,
our PPP trade conference proved to be extremely
popular.
Innovative Debt Management
Services
We offer municipalities a total liability
management programme, handling all interest
management issues to optimise their debt
situation and lower their actual interest charges
over time. The City of Bottrop became Germany’s
first municipality to completely outsource its
debt management, and WestLB was awarded
the respective contract. During the year under
review, we received assignments from additional
cities in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The trend towards U.S. cross-border leasing
of municipal assets, particularly real estate, sewer
systems and rail infrastructures, continued in
2002. This generates cash benefits for the
municipalities, since they are subject to the
same tax conditions as their U.S. investors.
In our role as advisor and financial services
provider, we continued to supervise numerous
complex transactions for major German
cities.