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A red-white-red showcase project of an innovative ecological energy center is currently being built on Vienna's Danube Canal. Water extracted from the Danube Canal and five groundwater wells will be used for the heating and cooling systems of five high-rise buildings. Kommunalkredit CEO Bernd Fislage: "We are pleased to support this pioneering project of SEM Analgen GmbH (...) as a financing partner. With its financing know-how in the infrastructure and energy sector, Kommunalkredit will continue to enable sustainable projects and play a pioneering role in achieving national and international climate targets.

Kommunalkredit Austria AG has successfully issued another bond with a volume of EUR 300 million, an interest rate of 0.25 percent and a maturity of three years. Demand from institutional investors was extremely high, with the order book closing at EUR 700 million. Corporate bonds continue to enjoy brisk sales apart from shares. In the case of the Kommunalkredit bond, 70 investors from Europe took up the offer, including asset managers, insurance companies and banks from Austria, Germany, the Benelux countries, Scandinavia, Great Britain and some countries in Southern Europe.

The question is not if, but when Kommunalkredit Austria will go public. The bank, which specialises in municipal as well as infrastructure and energy financing, is setting its course ever more clearly. The bank is to be made ready for the stock exchange "in the coming years," explains Chairman of the Board Bernd Fislage, "and in particular according to size and capital strength." While the IPO is not necessary, it will increase access to capital, visibility and attractiveness, he adds.

Kommunalkredit Austria, the specialist financier, is making progress on its way to stock market readiness. CEO Bernd Fislage is already looking around for an anchor investor. The institution has just issued EUR 57 million in additional core capital with an interest rate of 6.5% and placed it with seven investors from the asset management, insurance and private wealth management sectors. The settlement will take place next Tuesday. Fislage can write the equity story on a beer mat even without PR consultants: Nimble specialist financier without IT legacy offers above-average return on equity thanks to focus on promising business areas.

Heat pumps and water from the Danube Canal supply the TrIIIple, the Austro Tower and another high-rise building with heating and cooling. Specifically, water from the Danube Canal and groundwater wells are used to heat and cool the more than 100,000 m² of space, as Andreas Glatzl, one of the two managing directors of SEM Energie- und Gebäudemanagement GmbH, explains. This makes the project unique in Austria in terms of scale, he says. Glatzl puts the total project volume, including district heating pipelines and river construction, at 9.7 million euros. A good part of this, namely 6.5 million, is being provided by Kommunalkredit as a financing partner.