A little relief flashes through behind Stefan Kirsten’s professional facade. The manager, who has only been on the board of directors of the real estate group Adler Group since February, finally has something in his hands: the long-awaited one Special report from the auditors of KPMG about the serious allegations by the notorious British short seller Fraser Perring. And from Kirsten’s point of view, it’s not that bad: “It’s not a first-class acquittal, of course deficiencies were uncovered,” he said on Friday. The KPMG auditors were not able to refute all the allegations that Perring had made in the fall on 137 pages. According to Kirsten, KPMG also rightly criticized the documentation and processing of some transactions, but: There was no systematic fraud or deception in the group. All in all, it can be said that Adler is “stricken, but vital”.
The weak points would now be comprehensively addressed, Kirsten assured, and he did not rule out personal consequences. After the balance sheet is presented next week, the work should begin and be completed by mid-May. Adler’s strategy should then be reviewed over the summer, and the results would be presented in the fall.
Perring is not just anyone in the financial markets
The allegations made by Perring in a Report by his analysis company Viceroy had spread are violent: Real estate is overvalued, and the Austrian businessman Cevdet Caner and others have withdrawn money from the group – to the detriment of shareholders and bondholders. Viceroy said on Friday that the results of the KPMG report would be analyzed and further assessments published.
In his view, Perring’s allegations were “exaggerated and untenable”, Kirsten said. “Viceroy is done for me.” Whether it stays that way remains to be seen. Perring is not just anyone in the financial markets. The Brit had already made allegations against Wirecard at the beginning of 2016. Not all of this later turned out to be true – but enough that investors have been listening when he sounds the alarm ever since. The German leasing specialist Grenke felt this a year and a half ago.
Since the attack, the Adler share has also known one direction in particular: downwards. While it was well above EUR 26 last June, it even fell below EUR 9 by the end of the year. On Friday, the relief among investors was clearly noticeable. After the report was published, the stock jumped almost 20 percent in the morning. Over the course of the day, it gave back part of the profits, but was still up a good 7.5 percent at EUR 12.50 up until midday.