ACTIONS CORNER

A dispute ongoing for over two years between 104 former London investment bankers at Dresdner Bank and the partly nationalized Commerzbank is about compensation claims from the year 2008 in the amount of €52 million. The investment bankers insist that the former head of investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, Stefan Jentzsch, had publicly promised the compensation that year. The process commenced on 23 January with preliminary hearings before the London High Court. The actual trial began on 25 January and is scheduled until 17 February.

The hedge funds Kingate Global and Kingate Euro Fund have sued a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank in New York over a dispute over billions in claims against Bernard Madoff. The bank was allegedly delaying the implementation of an agreement on 24 August to buy their rights to compensation in the financial fraud. The funds accuse Germany’s biggest bank of not wanting to transfer the amount because it now thinks the price is too high. The bank was awaiting certain documents for the processing of the transaction, according to a spokesman. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme broke down amidst the financial crisis.

Madeleine Schickedanz has sued Sal. Oppenheim and its real-estate partner Joseph Esch for more than two billion euros in damages. A corresponding draft claim against the financial advisers and twelve other persons and companies has been attached to an application to Cologne Higher Regional Court to establish jurisdiction, Schickedanz’s lawyer Peter Rath said on 19 January. The Quelle heiress was also asking for refund of ​​loan repayments already made totalling more than €200 million. A spokesman for the Cologne-based bank, since acquired by Deutsche Bank, said the damage claims were “incomprehensible”.

The EU Commission on 25 January instructed Deutsche Post to repay an amount of 500 million to one billion euros to the German Federal Treasury. The group had collected unfair State aid for price approvals and received subsidies for public-sector pensions, which it should now refund. The aid had procured it advantages over its private competitors, said Joaquín Almunia. Frank Appel was, however, optimistic he could overturn the decision in court, like earlier decisions taken by Europe’s competition watchdogs. Deutsche Post announced it would file an appeal with the European Court of Justice.

Frankfurt Higher Regional Court will announce its decision in the damages case against Deutsche Telekom on 25 April, Judge Birgitta Schier-Ammann said on 25 January. The Court finds that the investors should have sought advice on Telekom’s initial public offerings if they did not understand the prospectus. The test case should clarify whether the Bonn-based company concealed risks in the prospectus for its third equity offering in June 2000 and deceived shareholders by false information. The 17,000 plaintiffs are demanding a total of 80 million euros. Telekom rejects the claim.

A judicial mediation in the billion-dollar lawsuit between GAGFAH and the city of Dresden has failed before Dresden Regional Court. A spokesman for the regional court confirmed reports to this effect in local newspapers. The property company also confirmed the failure; both parties gave no reason. It was to be decided still in January when the trial would begin. In the course of their enquiries, the prosecution had recently searched GAGFAH’s premises. The capital of Saxony has sued GAGFAH for alleged violations of tenant protection clauses, seeking a penalty of 1.08 billion euros. GAGFAH has always denied the allegations.

Immediately prior to commencement of the trial in the so-called Market Letter case, Harald Petersen resigned his positions at shareholder association Schutzgemeinschaft der Kapitalanleger (SdK). On the weekend before the trial it was revealed that the prosecution was also investigating the former SdK board member, who is also one of Markus Straub’s lawyers, for “complicity in market manipulation.” Despite investigations against the defence counsel, the trial of former shareholder protector Straub and Tobias Bosler started on 23 January. A former editor of investment newsletters and former SdK officer Christopher Öfele - both considered to be accomplices of Bosler, who allegedly organized the insider trading - had already confessed and received suspended sentences. The shareholder association had publicly criticized alleged accounting tricks by Wirecard, while Straub bet on falling prices.

Christian Strenger has lost his lawsuit against SolarWorld. Cologne District Court rejected the legal challenge against the decisions of last year’s Annual General Meeting of the TecDax group on 12 January. The corporate-governance expert had criticized the one-sided composition of the photovoltaic company’s Supervisory Board, because its members advise SolarWorld on legal matters, and challenged the actions of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board. The court pointed out that while the consulting agreement, in existence for years, between the solar energy company and the law firm Schmitz Knoth, where Supervisory Board chairman Claus Recktenwald is a partner, does not correspond with the requirements of the Companies Act, there is no evidence of conflicts of interest or a lack of independence of the supervisory body.