DGAP-News: HYPOPORT SE: FINMAS becomes even more firmly embedded within the Savings Banks Finance Group

Finanz Informatik acquires Ostdeutscher Sparkassenverband's equity investment in FINMAS

FINMAS becomes even more firmly embedded within the Savings Banks Finance Group

Berlin, 4 June 2020: The ownership structure of FINMAS GmbH, a joint venture between Hypoport SE and Ostdeutscher Sparkassenverband (OSV, association of eastern German savings banks), is changing with retroactive effect from 1 January 2020. Finanz Informatik GmbH & Co. KG (FI), which is the central IT service provider in the Savings Banks Finance Group, is acquiring OSV's 50 per cent stake in FINMAS. The FI shareholders' meeting approved the transaction on 28 May 2020. FINMAS operates online marketplaces for mortgage finance and loan brokerage and will be even more closely integrated into the Savings Banks Finance Group as a result of FI's equity investment. Hypoport continues to hold the other 50 per cent of the shares in the joint venture.

In FI, FINMAS is gaining a shareholder that operates across Germany, has a strong technological focus, and plays a core role within the Savings Banks Finance Group. And in return, FI will benefit from the expertise of a partner that will be able to help with the development of customer-focused IT solutions for the savings banks in the areas of mortgage finance and consumer lending. Ronald Slabke, CEO of Hypoport SE, is therefore delighted about the long-term partnership with FI. "As a result of Finanz Informatik's equity investment in FINMAS, the shareholder structure will reflect an operational trend that has been growing increasingly apparent for years: Across Germany, more and more savings banks are using the FINMAS digital financial marketplace as a technology platform for the cutting-edge distribution of financial products," he explains.

Andreas Schelling, member of the FI Executive Board, is currently responsible for application development and is set to become the new Chairman of the Executive Board. He emphasises the synergies of the partnership and is looking forward to the companies' shared future: "Finanz Informatik is the main driving force behind the Savings Banks Finance Group's digital financial platform. The equity investment in FINMAS, which operates in fast-moving market segments, will enable us to make our solutions and processes even more focused on the end customer. Alongside the Hypoport Group, we want to drive the ever-closer integration of the individual solutions and technologies in order to strengthen the distribution capabilities of the savings banks."

OSV and Hypoport AG (now Hypoport SE) founded FINMAS in 2009, building it up into a financial marketplace for the Savings Banks Finance Group's brokerage business. From the beginning, the objective has been to enable all members of the Savings Banks Finance Group to use the platform to unlock new market potential, particularly in mortgage finance. Wolfgang Zender, Managing Director of OSV, stresses the importance of Finanz Informatik's equity investment in FINMAS: "We at OSV helped to establish FINMAS and supported it from an early stage. Today, its market model generates strong growth rates year after year that are unparalleled in the Savings Banks Finance Group. The close integration of FINMAS with the Savings Banks Finance Group's central IT service provider lays the foundations for the next strategic steps in the refinement of FINMAS's very successful business models. As well as professionalising the brokerage business, FINMAS is developing innovative ways of occupying the customer interface, and will now have FI at its side."

Over the past few years, the number of FINMAS contractual partners has risen sharply and now exceeds 250. "I would like to thank our partners at Ostdeutscher Sparkassenverband for the many years of excellent collaboration and their early support for FINMAS," says Klaus Kannen, Managing Director of FINMAS GmbH, commenting on the company's change of shareholder. "The success of FINMAS so far would not have been possible without this partnership. The sale of the shares to Finanz Informatik represents the next logical step to put FINMAS's future growth on an even broader footing. We will work with Finanz Informatik to successfully combine technological solutions with modern business models. The savings bank business model will thus be further strengthened by the tighter integration of the FINMAS marketplace into the OSPlus distribution processes of the savings banks."

About Hypoport SE

Hypoport SE is headquartered in Lübeck (Germany) and is the parent company of the Hypoport Group. The Group is a network of technology companies for the credit, real-estate and insurance industries with a workforce of approx. 2,000 employees. It is grouped into four segments: Credit Platform, Private Clients, Real Estate Platform and Insurance Platform.

The Credit Platform segment operates Europace, which is an online B2B financial marketplace and the largest German platform offering mortgages, building finance products and personal loans. A fully integrated system links more than 700 partners - banks, insurers and financial product distributors. Several thousand loan brokerage advisors execute more than 30,000 transactions per month on Europace, generating a volume of more than €6 billion. Besides Europace, the FINMAS and GENOPACE sub-marketplaces and the B2B distribution companies Qualitypool and Starpool support the growth of the credit platform.

The Private Clients segment, made up of the web-based, non-captive financial product distributor Dr. Klein Privatkunden and the consumer comparison portal Vergleich.de, brings together all business models aimed at directly advising consumers on mortgages, insurance or pension products.

All real estate-related activities of the Hypoport Group, with the exception of mortgage finance, are grouped together in the Real Estate Platform segment (previously Institutional Clients) with the aim of digitalising the sale, valuation, financing and management of properties.

The Insurance Platform segment operates SMART INSUR, a web-based B2B platform for advice, comparison of tariffs and the administration of insurance policies. The segment also incorporates the insurance unit of Qualitypool, a B2B distribution company.

The shares of Hypoport SE are listed in the Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Deutsche Börse) and have been included in the SDAX since 2015.

Contact

Jan H. Pahl
Investor Relations Manager
Phone: +49 (0)30 / 42086 - 1942
Mobil: +49 (0)176 / 965 125 19
Email: [email protected]
www.hypoport.com

Key data on Hypoport's shares

ISIN DE 0005493365
WKN 549336
Stock exchanges symbol HYQ