Fundamental Information

Fundamental Understanding

Corporate governance is the responsible management and supervision of a company. The Management Board and the Supervisory Board are committed to the principles of corporate governance. The principles are the basis for the sustainable success of the company and therefore serve as guidelines for conduct in the company’s daily management and business.

Good corporate governance strengthens the trust of our shareholders, business associates, customers, employees and the general public in Vonovia SE. It increases the company’s transparency and strengthens the credibility of our group of undertakings. With balanced corporate governance, the Management Board and the Supervisory Board wish to safeguard Vonovia SE’s competitiveness, strengthen the trust of the capital market and the general public in the company and sustainably increase the company’s value.

Standards of Corporate Governance

As a major housing company, we are aware of the particular significance of our entrepreneurial actions for society at large. As a result, we are also committed to the general principles of corporate governance, as well as all the main aims and principles of the Institute for Corporate Governance in the German Real Estate Industry, which we have been a member of since November 14, 2003. The initiative supplements the corporate governance principles to include housing-specific aspects and is committed to even greater transparency, an improved image and a more competitive real estate sector.

Corporate governance, acting in accordance with the principles of responsible management aimed at increasing the value of the business on a sustainable basis, is an essential requirement for the Vonovia Group, embracing all areas of the business.

Our corporate culture is founded on transparent reporting and corporate communications, on corporate governance aimed at the interests of all stakeholders, fair and open dealings between the Management Board, the Supervisory Board and employees as well as on compliance with the law.

The Code of Conduct provides the ethical and legal framework within which we act and want to maintain a successful course for the company. The focus is on dealing fairly with each other but also in particular on dealing fairly with our tenants, suppliers, customers and investors. The Code of Conduct specifies how we assume our ethical and legal responsibility as a company and is the expression of our company values.

Information on the Company’s Governing Constitution

The designation Vonovia comprises Vonovia SE and its Group companies. Vonovia is a European company (SE) in accordance with the German Stock Corporation Act (AktG), the SE Act and the SE Regulation. Its registered headquarters is in Bochum. It has three governing bodies: the Annual General Meeting, the Supervisory Board and the Management Board. The duties and authority of those bodies derive from the SE Regulation (SE-VO), the German Stock Corporation Act (AktG) and the Articles of Association. Shareholders, as the owners of the company, exercise their rights at the Annual General Meeting.

According to the two-tier governance system, Vonovia SE has a Management Board and a Supervisory Board. In the two-tier governance system, the management of business and the monitoring of business are strictly separated from each other. The duties and responsibilities of these two bodies are clearly specified by law in the German Stock Corporation Act.

In accordance with the governing laws, in particular the SE Regulation and the German SE Employee Participation Act (SEBG), the Supervisory Board is only made up of representatives of the shareholders. The highest representative body of the employees is the Group works council. An SE works council was also set up at the level of Vonovia SE.

The Management Board and Supervisory Board of a company listed in Germany are obliged by law (Section 161 of the German Stock Corporation Act) to report once a year on whether the officially published and relevant recommendations issued by the government commission German Corporate Governance Code, as valid at the date of the declaration, have been, and are being, complied with. Companies affected are also required to state which of the recommendations of the Code have not been, or will not be, applied and, if not, why.

The Management Board reports in its declaration, also on behalf of the Supervisory Board, on important aspects of corporate governance pursuant to Section 289 a of the German Commercial Code (HGB) and No. 3.10 of the German Corporate Governance Code (GCGC).