News

Deutsche Wohnen expands Management Board to include Henrik Thomsen

• Another member of Management Board appointed by Supervisory Boar
• Restructuring of customer service and investment

Berlin, 17 May 2019. The Supervisory Board of Deutsche Wohnen SE decided today to appoint Henrik Thomsen (born 1964) onto the Management Board of the company.
Mr Thomsen will take up his position with Deutsche Wohnen by 1 January 2020 at the latest.

His areas of responsibility will include new builds, modernisation and refurbishment projects, neighbourhood development and smart living investment. He will also be responsible for the investment budget of the Deutsche Wohnen Group, which is approximately EUR 500 million a year.

As Matthias Hünlein, Chair of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Wohnen SE, explains, "We are delighted that we have been able to secure the services of Henrik Thomsen, a leading and highly regarded real estate professional. Mr Thomsen will provide important support to the company and his colleagues on the Management Board in their efforts to deal with some of the major challenges that face the sector. These challenges include how to invest in a way that is climate-friendly, how to build new housing sustainably and how to improve customer satisfaction. Having expanded its Management Board to four members in response to the significant growth of the Deutsche Wohnen Group, the company will be able to broaden its focus."

Currently, Henrik Thomsen is a director with Groth Development GmbH & Co. KG. Before that, he worked for CA Immo, DB Station & Service and also Drees & Sommer. He was responsible for neighbourhood development and project development. This included work on Europacity by Berlin Central Station, for example. Mr Thomsen is a graduate engineer and a real estate economist. In future, he will intensify the new-build activities of the Deutsche Wohnen Group and, in so doing, will help to respond to the widespread call for major private companies to build more new housing.

As of 1 April 2019, Lars Urbansky had already been appointed to the Management Board of Deutsche Wohnen. In future, he will have overall responsibility for the company's ongoing customer business. From 1996 to 2008, Mr Urbansky worked for GEHAG GmbH, which is now part of the Deutsche Wohnen Group, and then went on to take up various senior management positions within the Group.

Specifically, his job will consist of managing the various service companies of the Deutsche Wohnen Group, which have approximately 900 employees and serve as points of contact for existing and new tenants. The key responsibility in this area of the company's work is to subject service processes to thorough quality checks in order to further develop and improve both customer service and communication with tenants. Increasingly, digital tools will be used to achieve these goals, which means that the company will collaborate more intensively with external partners.

Following the previously announced departure of the current COO Lars Wittan by the end of September 2019, the Management Board of Deutsche Wohnen SE will consist of the two new directors Henrik Thomsen and Lars Urbansky as well as the CEO Michael Zahn and the CFO Philip Grosse no later than by the turn of the year.

Deutsche Wohnen

Deutsche Wohnen is one of the leading publicly listed property companies in Germany and Europe with a business focus on managing and developing its portfolio, which consists mainly of residential properties. As at 31 March 2019, the portfolio comprised 167,119 units in total, of which 164,416 were residential and 2,703 commercial. The company is listed in the Deutsche Börse's MDAX and is also included in the leading indices EPRA/NAREIT, STOXX(R) Europe 600 and GPR 250.

Important note

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To the extent that this document contains forward-looking statements, these are not facts and are recognisable by such words as 'will', 'expect', 'believe', 'estimate', 'intend', 'endeavour', 'assume' and similar expressions. These statements express the intentions, opinions or current expectations and assumptions of Deutsche Wohnen and the individuals acting in concert with it. The forward-looking statements are based on current plans, estimates and forecasts that Deutsche Wohnen and the individuals acting in concert with it have made to the best of their knowledge, but do not make any claims as to their future accuracy. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that are generally difficult to predict and are usually not within the control of Deutsche Wohnen or the individuals acting in concert with it. It should be remembered that the actual results or consequences may differ considerably from those mentioned or contained in the forward-looking statements.