Press release

Future Financing Act: Commerz Real wants to buy solar and wind farms for open-ended real estate funds Hausinvest

• Investment potential of German open-ended real estate funds amounts more than 19 billion euros
• Green energy for tenants is planned at special conditions
• Investors should benefit from more attractive assets and increased yield

Commerz Real welcomes the planned Future Financing Act (“Zukunftsfinanzierungsgesetz”), which was approved on 16. August 2023 in a draft version by the Federal Cabinet. As Commerzbank's real assets subsidiary announced, the draft was an important step towards the energy transition in Germany and a milestone for the further development of the open-ended real estate fund asset class. For the first time, the bill provides that open-ended real estate funds may invest up to 15 percent of their volume in assets for the production, transport or storage of electricity or heat from renewable energies. In addition, the funds should be allowed not only to acquire these investments, but also to operate them themselves. Both has not been possible so far. Commerz Real sees great market potential. With a combined total of 131 billion euros of assets under management, the German open-ended real estate funds could, in mathematical terms, invest more than 19 billion euros in wind and solar parks as well as other renewable energy facilities.

If the law will be approved by the legislature, we will use our many years of know-how in the field of renewable energies to exploit the new opportunities for us as quickly as possible.

Mario Schüttauf, fund manager of Commerz Real's open-ended real estate fund Hausinvest

"If the law will be approved by the legislature, we will use our many years of know-how in the field of renewable energies to exploit the new opportunities for us as quickly as possible," said Mario Schüttauf, fund manager of Commerz Real's open-ended real estate fund Hausinvest.
Commerz Real has been investing in solar energy since 2005 and in wind turbines and other energy infrastructure segments since 2016. The company currently manages more than 50 solar power plants and more than 40 onshore and offshore wind farms with a total output of around 1.5 gigawatts for private and institutional investors in Germany and Europe. 

"In the medium to long term, our goal is to supply the properties in our portfolio with electricity by ourselves," says Schüttauf. This energy could then be offered to tenants on favorable terms, which would increase the attractiveness of the properties for potential users and could have a positive effect on the valuation." And our investors will ultimately benefit from this," Schüttauf assures.