Despite the massive negative impact of the financial markets and economic crisis on the closed-end fund market, Dr. Peters Group was able to place equity totalling € 195 million on the market, with this excellent result once again being driven by the security-oriented aviation funds. Two aviation funds accounted for the lion’s share of the placed equity capital, investing in a Boeing 777-300ER operated by Emirates as the lessee and an Airbus A380 operated by Air France as the lessee. In view of the prolonged shipping crisis, the challenges faced by the shipping sector were primarily related to the management of the employed container vessel fleet.
During the 2008 record year, Dr. Peters Group placed almost € 1 billion in equity capital, exceeding the previous year’s total investment volume by 19.6%. On the basis of the year-end price (EUR/USD), the raised equity therefore stood at just under € 400 million.
This is by far the best result in the company’s history and is owed to the outstanding placement success of the DS funds No. 129 to 131, which invest in the first four Airbus A380-800s that were delivered for scheduled service. All of these aircraft are leased to renowned carrier Singapore Airlines. In fact, the demand for the DS fund No. 129 was so great that the fund was oversubscribed within the first two hours of its launch. In addition to these four large aircraft, the Group invested in two other 777-300ERs operated by Emirates as the lessee and two container vessels each having 1,118 TEU.
During the first half of 2007, Dr. Peters Group invested a total of EUR 555.1 million. This means that the total investment volume for the first half of the year alone exceeds that of the entire 2006 financial year by 14.4%. As at the mid-year point 2007, the equity to be placed stands at EUR 245.3 million and therefore also exceeds the volume of equity placed during 2006.
Dr. Peters Group is now also offering aircraft funds as a new and exciting investment opportunity. The Group has purchased two modern aircraft of the Boeing 777 series: a Boeing 777-200LR and a 777-300ER, representing a combined investment volume of EUR 241.93 million. In addition, the underwriting house invested in one VLCC, one Suezmax tanker and six container vessels, ranging from 700 to 1,100 TEU, and one office building in Germany by mid 2007.
The owner-operated Dr. Peters Group placed equity totalling € 244.7 million across all segments. Against the background of an overall declining market, this boosted the previous year's figure of € 216.8 million by 12.9 per cent, achieving a result that fell just short of the all-time record result of 2003 (€ 253.0 million). The pro rata investment volume stood at € 485.2 million.
The shipping fund segment contributed particularly strongly to the placement success of Dr. Peters Group. With equity totalling € 225.6 million being placed, the previous year's result of € 181 million was bettered by 24.6 per cent. Six new shipping funds were incepted, investing in one VLCC and five container vessels of the post-Panamax class. The equity capital placed via shipping funds corresponds to an investment volume of € 463.2 million. When converted into US dollars, Dr. Peters Group's shipping investments for 2006 stood at US$ 581.6 million.
DS Schiffahrt GmbH & Co. KG staff relocated, together with the staff of the MAGELLAN-Group, to their new joint offices in the Zürichhaus in Hamburg.
The Group expanded its competencies and performance potential in the area of ship management. For instance, an agreement was reached on the close co-operation between the Dr. Peters Group subsidiary DS Schiffahrt and MAGELLAN Shipping. Both companies merged their service portfolios and highly qualified staff by the end of the year to form the new DS Schiffahrt GmbH & Co. KG. As a result, the Dr. Peters Group now employs 40 staff who are entrusted with the management of 31 container vessels.
In a market characterised by high prices for investment assets and a difficult economic and legal environment, the Group incepted four new funds, investing in an office building located in the US, two crude oil tankers of the VLCC class and two Aframax crude oil tankers.
In 2004, the Dr. Peters Group placed four VLCC crude oil tankers. In addition, the Group acquired an office building in the US and developed an innovative certificate concept for investments in the secondary market for US life insurance.
In total, the underwriting house placed equity amounting to € 215.5 million in 2004, translating into an investment volume of € 415 million. Distributions to investors grew to € 84.7 million, up 32 per cent on the record year of 2003.
2003 was a year of superlatives for the Dr. Peters Group. The Group incepted a total of 11 funds, boasting an all-time high investment volume of approx. € 662 million. As a result, the total investment volume now exceeded € 3.1 billion. In the area of shipping funds, another 13 vessels, having a total capacity of 1.687 million tons (dwt), were added to the DS funds fleet. For the first time, two shipping funds, each covering three vessels, were developed.
Thanks to the profit-sharing concept of the "anniversary fund" DS fund No. 100, participants were, for the first time, able to directly benefit from the charterer's surplus proceeds in the German market. In the area of real estate funds, the Group continued its US property fund series with the inception of the DS fund No. 94 USA II. What's more, with the DS fund No. 101 Life Value I, Dr. Peters Group expanded its security-oriented product range and, for the very first time, offered its investors investment opportunities with existing US life insurance policies.
15 August 2003 saw the relocation to the new head office building in the Stadtkrone Ost area of Dortmund.
The 2002 financial year closed as the most successful placement year to date, at that time. In addition to a US fund, the Dr. Peters Group placed a bulk carrier, two additional Panamax container vessels and four supertankers.
In the same year, construction work on the new head office in the Stadtkrone Ost area of Dortmund commenced.
Compared with 2000, distributions to investors increased by 32 per cent to approx. € 34 million, while the investment volume crossed the € 2 billion threshold. Five bulk carriers, one container vessel and the first tranches of five further funds were placed during the course of this year.
With the inception of the DS fund No. 75 MT Eupen, the DS fleet was expanded to include the LPG (Liquified Petroleum Gas) tanker segment. Including the gas tanker MT Elversele, the total investment volume now exceeded € 1.5 billion.
Dr. Peters GmbH was renamed Dr. Peters GmbH & Co. KG. In the same year, the owner Jürgen Salamon incorporated DS Schiffahrt GmbH as a ship acquisition and management services company in Hamburg. In the real estate area, the year saw the first DS fund investment in the Netherlands.
By investing in one nursing home for the elderly, two container vessels and three supertankers, an investment volume of € 300 million was achieved. As a result, Dr. Peters GmbH climbed to the no. 3 position among shipping fund initiators and owns the largest tanker fleet in Germany.
20 years of DS funds – this makes Dr. Peters GmbH (as the company was then known) one of the longest running and renowned fund initiators in Germany. In 1997, the placed investment volume totalled € 167 million and the 10,000th limited partner joined a DS fund.
The MT Cape Banks is the first tanker and at the same time the 50th DS fund to be placed.
With the placement of the DS fund No. 45 MS Cape Race, the total investment volume had grown to over € 0.5 billion.
With the inception of the DS fund No. 42 Senioren- und Pflegeheim Tangerhütte, Dr. Peters GmbH entered the social infrastructure property market.
The wall had only just come down, when Dr. Peters GmbH invested in the former East German states by launching the DS fund No. 29 Versorgungszentrum Schönebeck.
The DS fund No. 27 MS Cape Bonavista is the first investment involving container shipping.
1990 saw the first shipping investment and the placement of the DS fund No. 24 MS Cape Cod.
At the turn of 1989/90, Jürgen Salamon purchased all business shares in Dr. Peters GmbH and took over the sole management of the business. This move also entailed the strategic decision to develop further investment venues and to offer shipping funds in addition to real estate funds.
Jürgen Salamon becomes a shareholder of Dr. Peters GmbH, after having been the company's managing director since 1983.
The product philosophy "Dynamism & Security" becomes a brand. The Novotel Dortmund is the first fund bearing the DS fund label, with DS becoming synonymous with successful funds.
1975 saw the launch of the first fund, Altenheim Dortmund-Brackel.
Dr. Peters GmbH is founded as a trading company.
