Cooperative banking

The cooperative financial network is a one-stop financial services provider. That means it offers its customers a full range of tailored financial services – all from a single source. Our cooperation with AHP Merkle, a family business from Gottenheim near Freiburg in south-western Germany, illustrates perfectly how this concept works. The medium-sized company develops, constructs, and manufactures high-end hydraulic cylinders that are now in demand all over the world from buyers in the tool-making, mold-making, and engineering sectors, as well as a variety of other industries.

For many years, AHP Merkle has been able to rely on the support of Volksbank Breisgau-Süd, its local cooperative bank, on its path to success. And the company also has a long-standing partnership and trust-based relationship with DZ BANK. In 2017/2018, the two cooperative financial partners of AHP Merkle worked together to structure the financing scheme for a large-scale investment. The plan involves using development loans brokered by Volksbank Breisgau-Süd with support from DZ BANK to finance the construction of a new building for the company. AHP Merkle has also put its trust in the expertise of other specialized DZ BANK Group institutions such as VR Equity Partner, which will be in charge of the follow-up financing, and VR Leasing, which is supporting the company with financing deals for machinery. Company director Christen Merkle: “We work on an equal footing with our partners from the cooperative financial network and they always know exactly what’s troubling us. And more important still: They always come up with a great solution.”