History
A new chapter in the history of the bank
In keeping with the privatisation policy pursued by the Federal Republic of Germany, Deutsche Pfandbriefanstalt was transformed into a public limited company under German law ("Aktiengesellschaft") in late 1989/early 1990. The initial public offering followed in March 1991, achieving a broad placement of shares. The DEPFA privatisation is regarded as a true success story in the history of the Federal Republic. Since 1990, the DEPFA Group has no longer acted as a government institution, but has committed itself to the principle of shareholder value, as a market-focused and profit-oriented enterprise.
In the second half of the 1990s however, it became clear that the framework of the German Mortgage Bank Act had become too restrictive for the ongoing development of DEPFA's Public Finance and Property activities. Against this background, the Management and Supervisory Boards made the proposal to split the Group into two specialist banks. On 15 October 2001, the DEPFA shareholders approved the split of the Group into a Public Finance Bank and a Property Bank, with a 99.95% majority. The new Group structure has been designed to optimise the business models, and to facilitate continued international expansion. The multi-stage split process was completed in June 2002. At its conclusion, two independent specialist banks had been established: DEPFA BANK plc for Public Finance, and Aareal Bank AG as the Property Bank.
