PRESS-RELEASE

Oldenburg, 16 October 2026

OLB Appoints Johannes Knolle as Head of Acquisition Finance

• Renowned acquisition finance expert joins from DZ Bank
• Expansion of the business segment remains a strategic priority

 Acquisition Finance is one of the most successful growth areas within OLB’s Corporates & Diversified Lending business segment. Now the Bank itself has completed an important acquisition: Johannes Knolle will join OLB as Head of Acquisition Finance effective 1 January 2027. Over the past twelve years, he has served as Head of Acquisition and Leveraged Finance at DZ Bank. At OLB, he succeeds Christian Rothhardt, who left the Bank in July 2026.

“I am delighted that we have succeeded in convincing Johannes Knolle of OLB’s strategy and future ambitions,” said Chris Eggert, Member of the Management Board of OLB and Chief Investment Officer responsible for Corporates & Diversified Lending. “He is a highly respected expert with an extensive network in the market. With his expertise and strong drive, he will play a key role in expanding our Acquisition Finance activities and further developing the entire Corporates & Diversified Lending segment.”

Johannes Knolle has headed Acquisition and Leveraged Finance at DZ Bank since late 2014. He joined the DZ Bank as a Director in 2011 after working in Financial Restructuring at Houlihan Lokey. Prior to that, he gained several years of experience in Acquisition and Leveraged Finance at, among others, UniCredit and Dresdner Kleinwort.

In his new role at OLB, Johannes Knolle will lead a team of approximately 30 employees. As of 31 December 2025, the Acquisition Finance portfolio comprised financing commitments of more than EUR 2 billion.

About OLB

 OLB is a universal bank with a nationwide presence in Germany and more than 150 years of history in north-west Germany. Under the OLB and Bankhaus Neelmeyer brands, it serves about one million customers in its two strategic business areas, Private & Business Customers and Corporates & Diversified Lending, both in person and via digital channels. The institution has a network of 80 branches nationwide and employs around 1,700 people.

With total assets of more than €30 billion, OLB became a significant financial institution at the beginning of 2025 and has since been directly supervised by the European Central Bank. Since January 2026, OLB has been owned by TARGO Deutschland GmbH and is thus part of the cooperative Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, one of the largest and financially strongest banking groups in Europe.

Feel free to visit us at www.olb.de and www.neelmeyer.de as well as on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.