Hypo Real Estate secures credit line

Hypo Real Estate Holding AG, Germany's second-biggest commercial-property lender, plans to scrap its 2008 dividend after securing a "multi-billion-euro" credit line to shield itself from turmoil on financial markets.

The loan of an unspecified amount will be provided by a group of German banks, the Munich-based company said in a statement yesterday, without naming the lenders.

"The new credit facility is a far-reaching and innovative approach which allows us to adjust our funding structure in order to accommodate the current malfunctioning of the international money markets," Chief Executive Officer Georg Funke said in the statement. "Hypo Real Estate Group will not need to go back to the unsecured money market for its refunding in the foreseeable future."