Status: 01/18/2022 5:32 p.m
A takeover battle has been raging around the well-known credit information agency Schufa for months. Savings banks and cooperative banks are trying to prevent a purchase by the investor EQT – so far without success.
The Swedish investor EQT is sticking to its plans to acquire a majority stake in the Wiesbaden credit information agency Schufa. As the Federal Cartel Office announced, EQT has registered its plans to acquire up to 100 percent of the shares and sole control of Schufa with the Bonn authority for examination. EQT declined to comment.
Deal not through yet
The takeover is far from dry: the public and cooperative banks could get in the way of the investor. Because the Nuremberg-based TeamBank AG, which belongs to the cooperative DZ-Bank Group, for its part reported plans to “acquire a minority stake and have significant competitive influence in Schufa Holding AG” with the Cartel Office.
The shares of the Volks- und Raiffeisenbanken in the Schufa are bundled with her. According to a spokeswoman, TeamBank holds a 17.94 percent stake in Schufa.Schufa is “a data supplier for TeamBank and the entire cooperative financial group and is therefore of great strategic importance for us,” said the spokeswoman. It is in the interests of the existing shareholders to “obtain a stable majority” in order to ensure Schufa’s neutrality in the long term.
Numerous owners
In fact, the Schufa is not an authority, but a private credit agency with the legal form of a stock corporation. Its shareholders include credit institutions, trading companies and other service providers. One of these banks, the French Société Générale, announced last year that it would sell its stake of around ten percent – to the Swedish investor group EQT. They want to expand the Schufa business model – the credit check of borrowers – to all of Europe.
However, the plans are being rejected by some Schufa owners, above all the savings banks and cooperative banks. They want to prevent private foreign financial service providers from gaining insight into the Schufa data. They also refer to an alleged right of first refusal. Currently, savings banks and cooperative banks together hold 47 percent of the shares. However, the exact breakdown of the shareholders is not known. The value of the Schufa is estimated at two billion euros.
profitable business
In October last year, the “Handelsblatt” reported that the Swedish investors had held talks with Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and other private shareholders to take over their shares. Whether EQT was heard is open.
It is not surprising that Schufa arouses the desires of investors, since business with the credit agency is highly profitable: With annual sales of over 200 million euros, Schufa has an operating margin of almost a third.
The credit agency, founded in Berlin in 1927 as a “protection group for sales financing”, supplies retailers and banks in Germany with data on the creditworthiness of their customers and business partners. It has data on the payment behavior and credit obligations of 68 million citizens.