Fourteen years after the takeover of Postbank, the purchase of the Bonn institute is increasingly turning out to be something of a nightmare for Deutsche Bank. In recent months, the focus has been on IT problems that arose when Postbank data was moved to the Deutsche Bank platform. Now, surprisingly, another topic is coming onto the agenda: the group is now threatened with an additional payment to the former shareholders of Postbank. The Cologne Higher Regional Court (OLG) indicated in an oral hearing on Friday that Postbank shareholders could have been entitled to a higher price when Deutsche Bank took over Postbank 14 years ago. shared the largest German bank late Friday evening with. “In its remarks, the court indicated that it might find parts of these claims to be justified in a later decision,” the statement said.
According to the statement, the financial institution still considers the claims to be unfounded. Nevertheless, the bank now has to make a provision in the second quarter because after the oral hearing the probability that it will have to pay has increased. The maximum amount Postbank shareholders are entitled to, including interest, is around 1.3 billion euros, which roughly corresponds to the net profit for the first quarter.
The bank did not say how high the provision actually was. However, it will have an impact on the bank’s profitability and capital ratios for the second quarter and the year as a whole. If the entire 1.3 billion euros had to be set aside, this would reduce the common equity Tier 1 capital ratio by 0.2 percentage points. At the end of March, this ratio, which is also relevant for the dividend, was 13.45 percent. This does not change the strategic or financial goals.
The Postbank was taken over too cheaply?
The focus of the legal dispute is the gradual takeover of Postbank by Deutsche Bank and the question of when the institution had corporate control over Postbank. The dispute has been fought out back and forth across multiple instances and courts for more than ten years. Numerous witnesses were heard, including former Post boss Frank Appel and former Deutsche Bank CFO Stefan Krause. Initially, the plaintiffs repeatedly failed on their way through the courts. At the end of 2022 he had Federal Court of Justice (BGH) However, the matter was referred back to the Cologne Higher Regional Court and partially followed the plaintiffs’ arguments.
The plaintiffs – including the investor magazine Effects mirror – assume that Deutsche Bank already had control over the subsidiary in 2008. If this were the case, shareholders would have received significantly more money for their shares. In a first step, Deutsche Bank initially took over 29.75 percent of Postbank. At the time, it was close to the 30 percent threshold above which a buyer must make a purchase offer to the remaining shareholders of the acquired company. This also applies if the buyer directs business decisions, i.e. exercises control. However, the Deutsche Bank management led by then boss Josef Ackermann only made an offer to Postbank shareholders in 2010, when the share price was lower due to the financial crisis. It wasn’t until 2015 that she owned the Bonn financial institution completely.
So far, Deutsche Bank has made almost no provisions for the matter, only so-called contingent liabilities totaling around 1.3 billion euros, which have not had a negative impact on the result. The bank management has so far considered it largely unlikely that you will actually have to pay. According to internal documents available to the SZ, the bank’s legal department had at times classified the legal dispute as one of the greatest legal risks. It is still unclear when a decision will be made. Given the complexity of this legal case and the short period of time since the court’s statements, Deutsche Bank management will continue to evaluate the legal arguments and the possible impact on financial reports, it said. Only on Thursday did the financial institution report surprisingly good quarterly figures, which gave the share price a further boost.