Vienna, 27 October 2016

BUWOG Group optimises cost of debt

- Refinancing of a property portfolio will lead to an increase in Recurring FFO of at least EUR 4.0 million per year due to savings on interest

- Annual cash flow increase of approx. EUR 17.0 million

- BUWOG Deputy CEO and CFO Segal: "Restructuring senior debt unlocks further value for the company."

- Banking consortium of Berlin Hyp and Helaba provides financing in the amount of EUR 550 million

The BUWOG Group signed a loan agreement today with Berlin Hyp acting as global coordinator and Helaba in the amount of EUR 550 million to refinance senior debt with a credit period of eight years. It involves restructuring the financing of a property portfolio comprising approximately 18,000 units with total floor area of approximately 1.1 million sqm primarily in the German states of Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and in Berlin. Closing is expected for the end of January 2017.

The restructuring enables the significant optimisation of credit costs by reducing the property LTV (loan to value) with the planned deployment of up to EUR 40 million from the convertible bond recently issued as well as by changing the borrower structure and by improving the corporate and management rating.

For BUWOG the refinancing measure will improve its financial result by at least EUR 4.0 million per annum with a direct impact on the Recurring FFO. For the current financial year 2016/17 a positive FFO impact of approx. EUR 0.8 million is expected. Furthermore BUWOG will benefit from a reduction of amortisation payments of on average approximately EUR 13.4 million per annum. This results in a total annual cash flow increase of approximately EUR 17.0 million.

By refinancing, the current average financing costs of the BUWOG Group including the convertible bond will decline from 1.90% to 1.76% at an average term of financial liabilities of 12.6 years.

Andreas Segal, Deputy CEO and CFO of the BUWOG Group: "After having placed the EUR 300 million convertible in September, we are now happy to be able to further unlock value for BUWOG by restructuring senior debt. "

With Berlin Hyp and Helaba having provided the original financing for the acquisition of the portfolio prior to this refinancing as well, BUWOG has had a long-standing relationship with both banks.
"We are happy that we could rely again on the support of Berlin Hyp and Helaba", Andreas Segal adds.

About BUWOG Group

BUWOG Group is the leading German-Austrian full-service provider in the residential property business and now looks back on 65 years of expertise. Its property portfolio encompasses more than 50,900 units and is located in Austria and Germany. In addition to Asset Management, the entire value chain of the residential sector is covered by Property Sales and Property Development. The shares of BUWOG AG have been listed on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt am Main, Vienna (ATX) and Warsaw since the end of April 2014.

For any enquiries please contact:


Media enquiries Germany: Investor Relations:

Peter Dietze-Felberg                                   Holger Lueth
RUECKERCONSULT GmbH                        BUWOG AG
T: +49 (0)30 2844 987-62                        T +43 (0) 1 87828 1203
dietze@rueckerconsult.de                             holger.lueth@buwog.com


Media enquiries Austria:

Thomas Brey
M&B PR, Marketing, Publikationen GmbH
T +43 (0) 1 233 01 23 15
M +43 676 542 39 09
brey@mb-pr.at