NORD/LB Norddeutsche Landesbank is augmenting its activities in Singapore and Shanghai in the interests of servicing and assisting its customers in the expansion of their Asian business activities. NORD/LB intends to achieve considerable growth in Asia in the years ahead, in particular with project financing in the spheres of energy and infrastructure, the financing of ships and aircraft as well as in the field of business with German SMEs. With a staff of 60 employees in the Singapore branch and 20 in Shanghai, NORD/LB is already the leading German Landesbank in Asia.
"Many of our customers see sharply growing business potential in Asia", says Dr. Hinrich Holm, member of the NORD/LB Managing Board and responsible for the Bank's foreign business. "In the field of renewable energies our long-standing German and European customers figure among the world's leading providers. Given the enormous amount of catching up to do in expanding the energy infrastructure in many of the countries in Asia, our customers see diverse market chances there. Our aim in this connection is to assist and support them with our expertise."
An initial successful transaction in the sphere of renewable energies took the form of a wind farm project on the Philippines, in the financing of which NORD/LB played a leading role. The Burgos wind park on the main island of Luzon with an overall output of 150 megawatts will be equipped with turbines supplied by the Danish wind power plant manufacturer Vestas – a company with which NORD/LB has worked closely over a period of many years. The financing of the project is secured by the Danish export credit agency EKF. The prestigious PFI magazine gave the transaction the title of "Deal of the Year" in the "Asia-Pacific Renewables" category.
NORD/LB sees opportunities for lucrative new business in Asia in the sphere of ship financing too, with a particular focus on modern vessels with high energy efficiency in the merchant shipping sector. The Bank is also expanding its activities in the Offshore Oil & Gas segment in Asia. 2014 already saw the ship financing business at the Singapore branch pick up considerable pace, with 17 successful transactions – besides which NORD/LB has further expanded its network by way of new cooperational arrangements with Asian export credit insurance providers.
In the field of aircraft financing NORD/LB is building up a new team with financial experts in Singapore for the purposes of establishing local presence for even better servicing of the bank's customers there. In doing so, NORD/LB aims to play a part in the dynamic growth that is forecast for the Asian aviation market in the coming years. This also contributes ultimately to a more intensive diversification of the overall business with aircraft financing, in which field NORD/LB is building up its network, in particular through cooperational partnerships with the major Chinese leasing firms. One example in this context is the intensive business relationship with ABC Leasing, a fully-owned subsidiary of the state-owned Agriculture Bank of China.
In the Asia-Pacific region outside of China the Singapore branch also constitutes the competence centre for the credit and financing business with NORD/LB's corporate customers in the German SME sector. Given NORD/LB's unique status as the only German state bank active in China, the branch in Shanghai is the preferred business partner for German companies seeking financing solutions for business in the People's Republic. Besides standard credit and documentary business, the purchasing of receivables in local Chinese currency or innovative product initiatives for the cross-border mobilization of liquidity likewise form part of the activity portfolio offered by the "German Desk".
With total assets of about EUR 200 billion, NORD/LB Norddeutsche Landesbank is among Germany's leading commercial banks. Its core business fields include structured financing in the energy and infrastructure sectors, ship and aircraft financing, corporate banking, commercial real estate financing, capital market business and the servicing of private and corporate customers. The bank is headquartered in Hanover, Braunschweig and Magdeburg, with branch operations in Düsseldorf, Munich, Hamburg and Schwerin and abroad in London, New York, Singapore and Shanghai, as well as a subsidiary in Luxembourg.
