The French public financial institution Caisse des Dépôts (CDC), through its business line Banque des Territoires, and the listed German specialist lender pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank (pbb) want to join forces in the digitalization of the public sector finance market. The two partners today announced the signing of an investment and shareholders agreement under which Banque des Territoires will acquire a 28.5% stake in pbb’s subsidiary CAPVERIANT. CAPVERIANT is a fintech operating a marketplace which brings together public sector borrowers and institutional investors. The platform was launched in Germany in 2018 and CAPVERIANT expanded operations into France in 2019. Closing of the transaction is subject to typical conditions, in particular clearance from the European antitrust authorities.
The co-operation of the two partners is expected to further boost growth and market penetration of CAPVERIANT in Germany and France. pbb and Banque des Territoires share the belief that an electronic platform makes funding simpler, faster and more efficient for the public sector. This would make financing of local public sector investments more sustainable in the long run while facilitating digital transformation in the sector, especially for small and medium-sized local and regional governments.
The joint-venture underlines pbb’s commitment to support public sector borrowers in financing matters through the CAPVERIANT platform as well as pbb’s overall commitment to the French market, where it is a major lender to commercial real estate investors and also engages in the financing of investments in the public sector. This operation would also be completely in line with Banque des Territoires action for more connected territories by supporting the development of digital uses and services in all territories.
CAPVERIANT is one of the leading public sector finance platforms in Europe and has shown an exponential growth of users in recent months. It employs high standards in relation to IT security as well as governance, Know your customer (KYC) and compliance. It also provides information and services to its clients to make transactions easier and more efficient. In addition, the digital reach of CAPVERIANT provides easy access to public sector lenders and allows the public sector in France and Germany, i.e. municipalities of all sizes, departments, regions and other public sector entities, to diversify their funding sources. This will support economic recovery and contribute to more sustainable financing of local public sector projects in the long term. Public sector investors will benefit from a more efficient asset allocation to the public sector – domestically as well as cross border.
As an independent and transparent marketplace, CAPVERIANT remains open to and actively promotes further co-operations with local public sector financing market players in its core countries, but also across Europe as the fintech is also considering a further regional expansion within Europe.
“As the crisis reminds us, the digital transition of all the actors in our economy is still a major issue in France. Since its creation, one of Banque des Territoires’ missions has been to accelerate the digitization of local public actors. This Franco-German partnership would allow territories to simplify and streamline their procedures,” said Olivier Sichel, CEO of Banque des Territoires.
Andreas Arndt, CEO of pbb, commented: “The success of CAPVERIANT is based on technical excellence and customer focus. We look forward to working with our partner Banque des Territoires to further develop this pan-European venture. We are convinced that CAPVERIANT can play a significant role to improve the efficiency of the markets for public sector finance in Germany, France and other countries.”
About Banque des Territoires
Set up in 2018, Banque des Territoires is one of Caisse des Dépôts' five areas of expertise. It brings together within a single structure all of our in-house expertise for local areas. As a one-stop shop for customers, it provides bespoke solutions in terms of consulting and financing through loans and investment to meet the needs of local authorities, social housing bodies, local public undertakings and the legal professions. It has been set up to serve the interests of all local areas alike, from rural municipalities to large cities, with the ambition of combating social inequality and territorial divisions. Banque des Territoires is also rolled out across Caisse des Dépôts' 16 regional managements and 35 territorial offices so as to resonate more meaningfully with our customers, in their neighbourhoods.
For more attractive, including, sustainable and connected territories.
www.banquedesterritoires.fr
About CAPVERIANT
CAPVERIANT is a digital financing platform and brings local and regional governments as well as other public institutions together with institutional investors, in order to make LRGs funding requests available online and to facilitate the matching of supply and demand on this particular market. The digital reach is intended to increase market and price efficiency and improve transparency. This also allows public sector borrowers and institutional lenders to digitize their respective processes. The platform has also been active in Germany since May 2018 and in France since April 2019.
https://www.capveriant.com
Media Contacts:
pbb
Walter Allwicher, +49 89 2880-28787, walter.allwicher@pfandbriefbank.com
Nina Lux, +49 89 2880-11496, nina.lux@pfandbriefbank.com
Banque des Territoires – Groupe Caisse des Dépôts
Marie-Caroline Cardi, +33-6 38 53 97 67, marie-caroline.cardi@caissedesdepots.fr