Rescue at shareholder expense
Court finally approves Varta restructuring
The battery manufacturer Varta is deep in crisis and shareholders have to prepare for the loss of their money. A court has now given the green light to the rescue plan. What’s next?
The SdK investor community has sharply criticized the approval of the controversial restructuring plan for the battery manufacturer Varta. The rejection of the complaints by the Stuttgart Regional Court is not only disappointing, but also shows very clearly how ineffective, not to say ineffective, the appeal system is designed within the framework of the StaRUG restructuring law, said SdK lawyer Markus Kienle.
Following the court’s decision, the rescue plan for the financially troubled company can now be addressed to the exclusion of small shareholders. On Wednesday, the regional court rejected all complaints against the restructuring plan. Varta explained that no further complaint was allowed.
Renovation can now begin
The company’s restructuring plan is now legally binding. As part of the restructuring, it envisages a reduction of the share capital to zero. This means that the independent shareholders will completely lose their money. The investor community is again preparing a constitutional complaint against this. She failed with her first complaint in Karlsruhe.
SdK lawyer Kienle further criticized the fact that the Stuttgart Regional Court had not even dealt with the serious constitutional objections because, in the court’s opinion, a significant disadvantage had not been shown. The Varta restructuring is taking place within the framework of the restructuring law StaRUG, which is intended to spare crisis-hit companies from insolvency proceedings. The SdK’s main criticism is that the StaRUG makes it possible for stock corporations to temporarily set their capital to zero before increasing it again. The free shareholders then go away empty-handed.
Porsche plans to join
In addition to reducing the share capital to zero, Varta’s restructuring plan also provides for a haircut. Varta will then be taken off the stock exchange and the shareholders will leave without compensation.
Varta would then like to issue shares again – but only to a company owned by the previous majority owner Michael Tojner and the sports car manufacturer Porsche. Both of them cost 30 million euros each. A similar procedure had previously taken place in the restructuring of the automotive supplier Leoni, in whose restructuring the independent shareholders also came away empty-handed.
dpa
Source: Stern
