by Attorney-at-law Martin Arendts, M.B.L.-HSG
In an open letter to the CEO of Commerzbank, published in today's issue of the Handelsblatt (No. 180 of 18 September 2017, p. 23), London-based activist fund Petrus Advisers calls for a significant increase in value of comdirect. Commerzbank, which is the lagest sharholder of comdirect (82%), "assumes the role of a dominant and unintentional shareholder", criticizes Petrus Advisers in the letter. According to Petrus Advisers, Germany's second largest private bank neglects the other shareholders. The fund criticizes, in particular, the "cost problem": "Small investors who have been on board since comdirect´s IPO suffocate in Commerzbank´s cost structures," write Petrus partners Klaus Umek and Till Hufnagel. Comdirect's cost-income ratio was 68.6% last year, which means that comdirect had to invest nearly 70 cents to earn a euro, with no "dynamic growth". With regard to eBase and comdirect, "no serious synergies" could be observed. Corporate governance was also heavily criticized. The management and the supervisory board "consist essentially of your circle of friends from Dresdner Bank", criticizes Petrus Adviser in the letter, personally addressed to Mr Martin Zielke, CEO of Commerzbank.
Commerzbank rejected the allegations of the fund. They are very pleased with the development of comdirect, explains the bank to Handelsblatt. The number of customers and deposits had risen significantly in 2016. Therefore, there was no need for changes.
Petrus Advisers owns about 1% of comdirect. The fund has repeatedly appeared as an activist shareholder, most recently in the squeeze-out case conwert (expropriation of minority shareholders in favour of Vonovia SE), asking for a much higher compensation.
In an open letter to the CEO of Commerzbank, published in today's issue of the Handelsblatt (No. 180 of 18 September 2017, p. 23), London-based activist fund Petrus Advisers calls for a significant increase in value of comdirect. Commerzbank, which is the lagest sharholder of comdirect (82%), "assumes the role of a dominant and unintentional shareholder", criticizes Petrus Advisers in the letter. According to Petrus Advisers, Germany's second largest private bank neglects the other shareholders. The fund criticizes, in particular, the "cost problem": "Small investors who have been on board since comdirect´s IPO suffocate in Commerzbank´s cost structures," write Petrus partners Klaus Umek and Till Hufnagel. Comdirect's cost-income ratio was 68.6% last year, which means that comdirect had to invest nearly 70 cents to earn a euro, with no "dynamic growth". With regard to eBase and comdirect, "no serious synergies" could be observed. Corporate governance was also heavily criticized. The management and the supervisory board "consist essentially of your circle of friends from Dresdner Bank", criticizes Petrus Adviser in the letter, personally addressed to Mr Martin Zielke, CEO of Commerzbank.
Commerzbank rejected the allegations of the fund. They are very pleased with the development of comdirect, explains the bank to Handelsblatt. The number of customers and deposits had risen significantly in 2016. Therefore, there was no need for changes.
Petrus Advisers owns about 1% of comdirect. The fund has repeatedly appeared as an activist shareholder, most recently in the squeeze-out case conwert (expropriation of minority shareholders in favour of Vonovia SE), asking for a much higher compensation.
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