Press release

Henning Koch successor as chief executive officer at Commerz Real

• Manfred Knof elected to the Supervisory Board of Commerz Real

The Supervisory Board of Commerz Real has appointed Henning Koch as the new chief executive officer. He will take up the position as of 1 May 2021. At the same time Henning Koch will become the chairman of the management of Commerz Real Investmentgesellschaft mbH. Henning Koch is succeeding Gabriele Volz, whose appointment as a member of the board of Commerz Real AG ends on 30 April 2021.

In Henning Koch an experienced manager is assuming the position of CEO at Commerz Real, one who is thoroughly familiar with the company and its business environment. Henning Koch is a convincing choice thanks to his extensive specialist expertise and his pronounced management qualities.

Sabine Schmittroth, the chairwoman of the Supervisory Board of Commerz Real

“In Henning Koch an experienced manager is assuming the position of CEO at Commerz Real, one who is thoroughly familiar with the company and its business environment. Henning Koch is a convincing choice thanks to his extensive specialist expertise and his pronounced management qualities. He thus fulfils all the prerequisites to successfully consummate the transformation of Commerz Real into a digital and sustainable asset manager,” says Sabine Schmittroth, the chairwoman of the Supervisory Board of Commerz Real and a member of the board of management of Commerzbank AG. “Together with his team Henning Koch will press ahead with the excellent development of Commerz Real. I very much look forward to the collaboration with him.”

Henning Koch (43) has been a member of the board of management of Commerz Real AG, with responsibility for Transactions and Asset Management, since April 2020. He has been with the company since 2017, initially responsible for all international real estate and sales activities as Global Head of Transactions. Prior to this Henning Koch worked at Credit Suisse for more than 11 years. There he was responsible for the international transactions for real estate investment products as Head of Acquisition & Sales Europe from 2103 onwards. Henning Koch embarked on his professional career at the real estate services provider Savills in Frankfurt am Main and London.

Henning Koch studied business administration at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. He then trained as a real estate economist at the European Business School in Oestrich-Winkel and as a real estate asset manager at the International Real Estate Business School, IREBS.

At the same time Manfred Knof, the chief executive officer of Commerzbank AG, was elected to the Supervisory Board of Commerz Real AG. “The election of Manfred Knof is a strong signal. It clearly underlines the significance of Commerz Real for the Commerzbank Group,” says Sabine Schmittroth.

Wiesbaden-domiciled Commerz Real looks back on a successful leasing year in 2020 and a strong first quarter of 2021. Thus, for instance, hausInvest leased a total area of approx. 350,000 square metres in 2020, 150,000 more than in the previous year. The second-largest German open-ended real estate fund has become one of the first funds to fulfil the EU disclosure requirements for a financial product with ecological features. In addition, Klimavest, the first impact fund for private investors, which specifically invests in real assets and was launched in November 2020, has posted considerable demand, in the meantime reaching a volume of approx. 370 million euros.