EANS-News: Christmas gift: Hypoport to donate new homes
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Company Information
9 December 2009: Instead of Christmas gifts to its clients and staff, Hypoport has decided to support the poorest of the poor this year. The Group is collaborating with the German Development Aid Agency for Social Residential and Settlement Projects (Deutsche Entwicklungshilfe für soziales Wohnungs- und Siedlungswesen e. V. (DESWOS)) to support a residential project in Tanzania. In addition to homes for single mothers, a centre is also being built where loans can be arranged more easily, both now and in the future.
Financial services provider Hypoport has launched an extensive Christmas campaign to support a community residential project for single mothers in Tanzania. Instead of its usual Christmas gifts to clients and staff, the Group is making a donation where help really is needed. The programme launched by DESWOS and its project partner in Tanzania builds on the two pillars of "home" and "financing" to secure the safety and sustainable independence of people in need.
Following two successful pilot projects, a further three residential settlements comprising 72 homes are being built in the small town of Arusha, in the northeast of Tanzania. These homes consist of three rooms, with an outlying toilet and bathroom. So illnesses caused by a lack of hygiene can be prevented. In addition, each house will be connected to a drinking water and electricity supply. Community centres are also being built in the three settlements. When they are finished, they will provide a venue for meetings focusing on financing issues. In order to become independent, the residents require start-up capital. Normal loans are, however, usually not an option that is open to them, since they cannot provide collateral. They are therefore going to join forces to create so-called savings and loan groups, in line with the principle of microfinance. This valuable self-help tool will enable them not just to start their own business, but also to pay off their houses. The repayments will be channelled into a solidarity fund and the resulting cash flow used to grant loans to destitute people, thus enabling further single parents to be housed.
Hypoport group is extremely familiar with both pillars - "home" and "financing" - within Europe. Dr. Klein & Co. AG, its wholly owned subsidiary, started business back in 1954 by providing advice and financing for the German residential real estate market. To this day, Dr. Klein leads the market in this segment. In addition, EUROPACE, Hypoport´s independent web-based platform for financing transactions between banks and agents, is the largest of its kind in Europe. According to Hans Peter Trampe, member of the Management Board of Dr. Klein & Co. AG: "We consciously selected the DESWOS project as the recipient of our donation. Tanzania is not only one of the poorest countries in Africa, it is also one of the most politically stable. So not only is help desperately needed; it actually has a real chance of making a difference, as well. Added to which, we know DESWOS and Mr Wilkens personally. The serious nature of the project is demonstrated, not just by himself, but also by the fact that Ulrich Wickert is the patron. And last but not least: The issues addressed by this project in Africa are the same issues that helped us to be successful in Europe, but on a different level. We can and want to be identified with it", according to Trampe.
About DESWOS DESWOS is a private, non-profit association. It is supported by the GdW associations and their members. DESWOS aims to combat the shortage of housing and the poverty in less developed countries by providing assistance so that poor families can help themselves by building homes and securing their financial futures. The members of DESWOS comprise more than 660 residential real estate companies that are members of the GdW Federal Association of German Residential and Property Companies (GdW Bundesverband deutscher Wohnungs- und Immobilienunternehmen), together with more than 170 private individuals who operate in the residential real estate market.
Contact Werner Wilkens Managing Director of DESWOS Deutsche Entwicklungshilfe für soziales Wohnungs- und Siedlungswesen e.V.
Innere Kanalstr. 69 50823 Cologne Tel. : 0221 57 989 60 Mobile: 0172 215 83 06 Fax: 0221 57 989 99 E-mail: werner.wilkens@deswos.de www.deswos.de
About Hypoport AG Hypoport Group is an internet-based all-round financial services provider based in Berlin. The Group employs some 450 people. The company has been listed in the Prime Standard on Deutsche Börse since the end of 2007. Its business model consists of two reciprocally beneficial pillars - the sale of financial products (Dr. Klein & Co. AG) and the provision of a platform for transacting financial products via the internet. Hypoport operates the EUROPACE B2B financial marketplace, which is the largest German online platform for transacting financing products. A fully integrated system links more than 30 banks with several thousand financial advisors, thus enabling the quick and direct agreement of contracts. The platform's highly automated processes generate considerable cost benefits. Nowadays, EUROPACE processes some 400 financing transactions every day. Hypoport AG publishes the monthly house price index (HPX) based on real transaction data. A list of the banks and service providers that use the platform can be found at http://www.hypoport.de/partner.html. The Annual Report 2008 is available for download at http://www.hypoport.de/publikationen.html.
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Further inquiry note:
Contact
Michaela Reimann
Group Communications Manager
Tel.: +49 (0) 30 / 4 20 86 1936
E-Mail: michaela.reimann@hypoport.de
Branche: Financial & Business Services
ISIN: DE0005493365
WKN: 549336
Börsen: Frankfurt / regulated dealing/prime standard