Munich Financial Center: Top in Finance! - Invest in Bavaria

Munich Financial Center Initiative
Private Equity and Venture Capital:
The Most Popular Venture Capital Center
Bavaria is the most important German
federal state for the venture capital and
private equity industry. Around 50 VC and
private equity companies have their head-
quarters in Munich. Furthermore, many
other German and international compa-
nies in this sector have major offices in the
Bavarian capital city. The very high number
of venture capital companies is primarily
attributable to the fact that they find an
ideal environment in Munich and Bavaria.
After all, Bavaria is one of the most impor-
tant regions in the world in the fields of IT,
medicine and biotechnology, and has an
especially strong service sector at its dispo-
sal. That is why venture capital and private
equity companies in Bavaria particularly
have so many investment opportunities
in industries that traditionally attract a lot
venture capital and private equity money.
In 2004, the risk capital issuers placed
about 760 million euros in Bavaria. That is
the highest annual amount they have ever
invested in a single German federal state.
Leasing and Factoring: The Market Leader
The Munich metropolitan area is
Germany‘s leading region for leasing. Of
the approximately 430 „major“ leasing
companies in Germany with equity capital
of at least 250,000 euros, just under 120 are
located in and around Munich, and 48 of
those are headquartered here.
The three most important of them alone –
Kommanditgesellschaft Allgemeine
Leasing (KGAL), LHI Leasing and Han-
nover Leasing – together administer a total
investment volume of approximately 66
billion euros. In addition, they are among
the top German issuers of closed funds and
are consequently based in the most impor-
tant market for these financial products
in Germany.
The Munich metropolitan area is also
among the leading factoring locations in
Germany. Two reasons for this are Eurofactor
AG, the market leader for import
factoring in Germany, and Siemens Financial
Services, the fastest growing German
factoring supplier overall in 2004.
16 17