VIPsight - January 2014

COMPANIES

 

Eliott turns down the offer to purchase Celesio

Eliott is not giving in to McKesson’s acquisition of Celesio for no less than 6.1 thousand million Euros. The information that the Hedge fund had accepted the US group’s offer is seemingly groundless. The pharmaceutical trading company is offering 23 Euros for every share of the Stuttgart company. It must receive no less than 75 percent of the capital plus two convertible bonds by January 9 for the transaction to go through. Haniel had already agreed with McKesson to offer up its 50.01 percent. Celesio’s Board of Directors and Supervisory Board had advised shareholders to accept the offer, but so far their answer has been to give McKesson the cold shoulder. By December 19, 2013 the Americans had collected only 0.21 of the share capital. Following Eliott and  hoping to get more money, other hedge funds have bought up Celesio stock. During Vodafone’s buy up of Kabel Deutschland, Eliott purchased approximately ten percent. Unable to destabilize the deal, it put up part of its holding. If the transaction with McKesson fell through, Eliott’s share package would be worth much less. Haniel, on the other hand, could return its quota into its share portfolio and wait for the next opportunity.

Evotec: a downward revision

A failed research project is obliging TecDax listed Evotec AG to trim its turnover estimate for 2013 from 90 to 100 million Euros to 84 to 86 million. According to  company management, the net adjusted profit might be lower than the figure for 2012 and not higher as was first thought.

By and large, the company’s revenue derives from milestone payments, and a research project not carried through means that the company is deprived of a sizeable sum. Evotec was conducting pre-clinical trials jointly with Janssen Pharmaceuticals on a potential active ingredient to counter depression. German press agency dpa reports that Evotec had hoped the commission would bring in some 100 million Euros.

Rhön Kliniken: outbreak of peace in the hospital sector

A Christmas truce has been struck between the major shareholders of Rhön Klinikum AG. Asklepios and B.Braun whose combined holdings amount to some 20% of share capital, are no longer opposed to selling off 43 Rhön clinics to fellow shareholder Fresenius, who holds 5% and who, by this transaction, will be able to plough the largest proportion of Rhön ‘s business into its own network of clinics. In exchange, Fresenius’s subsidiary, Helios has promised medical technology producer B. Braun,  a long-term purchase contract. This move will bring 117 clinics under the wing of Fresenius Helios which, with a turnover of 5.5 thousand million Euros, becomes Europe’s largest corporation of private-sector medical clinics.

 

 

 

 

 

The German Mittelstand

Underestimating the risk factor in small- to mid-size industry bonds

The bond market for small- to mid-size industry is in continual growth. With the now famous “German Mittelstand” seal of quality, also known abroad, 145 titles have been issued over the last three years for 127 companies and a volume of no less than 5.6 thousand million Euros. This was the finding of the Scope Ratings solvability auditor a few weeks ago. A number of bond issuers and capital market consultants are specialising in this lucrative trade. Frankfurt and Düsseldorf are following in the wake of Stuttgart as are a number of regional bourses, creating a niche in the market for these specific bonds. Often, though, quality does not go hand in glove with quantity, as investors are beginning to learn from bitter experience.

Wind farm specialist Windreich, online trader Getgoods, FFK the refuse disposal company, and recently, also HKW Personalkonzepte, were all forced into declaring bankruptcy. The German Mittelstand seal, a symbol of reliability and safety for creditors, is fast becoming a failure in every sense of the word. Scope Ratings points out that these are not isolated cases. In 2010, there were 14 instances of bankruptcy among small- to mid-size companies who had placed 16 bonds for a total of 650 million Euros. In terms of total volume, experts reckon the default rate to be 11.6 percent, meaning that on average only 88% of invested capital has been repaid to investors.

This state of affairs turns particularly bleak when viewed in a European context. Standard & Poor declared the default rate in 2012 for high-yield European bonds to be 2.2 percent. High-yield bonds are being increasingly viewed as junk, which does nothing to flatter the German pendant.

Those who issue bonds reserved for small- to mid-size companies are, however, only a small part of the sphere known as German Mittelstand and it would be wrong to tar the whole with the same brush. Instead, investors should realise that yield rates several hundred points higher than for comparable state bonds have a down-side, namely a vastly greater risk.

 

 

 

 

Buhlmann's Corner

I would like to know.

I would like to know why a CEO has to walk out of his contract, sign a new one (elsewhere) and leave his native country before he can sum up the courage to complain about the vacuum in political responsibility, or have the guts to blow the whistle on apathetic irresponsible politicians. There has to be a reason.

René Obermann, CEO of Deutsche Telekom until the other day, stands up in an interview published in a major German daily (Handelsblatt 9 December 2013) to point out some home truths. He (rightly) accuses the German government of being half asleep (but couched in other terms) and neglecting the NSA issue. Then he pours ridicule on a lethargic (but couched in other terms) Minister of the Interior who firstly forgets all about data security and then trumpets on about the pressing need for the industry to get its data protected and secure; an example of ministerial brass neck and no mistake.

I would like to know who on high cares about this infringement of international law just as I would like to know where the difference lies between my phone and the Chancellor’s when it comes to wire-tapping – weren’t there rules or something? Of course the day may come when a judge (sitting perhaps in the Bermudas) accuses me of terrorism and that I get sentenced without the right of appeal.

I would like to know the moral reason (the legal issue would never get past Washington) on which the American SEC (Security Exchange Commission) or the della DoJ (Department of Justice) bases its presumption to the right to investigate alleged corruption in Siemens, ThyssenKrupp, Daimler & Co. I would like to know the ethical premise for the appointment of former judges, ministers or whatever who are given the task of controlling the moral conscience of a nation in blatant infringement of the rule of law. I would like to know why financial crimes can only be prosecuted by posses of American consultants and expiation obtained by the transfer of billions of Euros into American coffers.

I would like to know who, in the end, is going to send the clean-up squad into the United States’ corridors of power. Even Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple, Yahoo et al are (at last) beginning to wonder about the conduct of their government and how it is administered. I would like to know whether the ninety days holding period for data on telephone calls was introduced in Europe as a sop to assist the NSA in its (commercial) management of peak hour traffic and reduce volatility. Since that part of the work is outsourced, the hackneyed excuse of “we hadn’t an inkling” might even hold water. The fact of the matter is that there isn’t a government in Berlin or London (with Washington not even in the picture) willing to do anything more than just look into it; the whistleblower knight in shining armour come to save those of democratic belief is still a hunted fugitive seeking political asylum. Freedom of speech is only aired in one-on-one conversations and the only way to tackle the issue is within the terms of (the increasingly beleaguered) democracy.

Poor public governance and thank you René Obermann – there is still someone out there among those who know, willing to tell. Indeed, regular sacking followed by tours of duty abroad might turn certain CEOs into major resources.

The question remains, however, where do the shareholders stand in all this. In the absence of managers with an opinion, they could be the ones to set the example without being constrained within secret encounters, exclusive clubs or video-conferencing to a few. The question is not who has the most lack of responsibility to make up for by “duty to act”, whether the asset manager (shareholder) or the manager of the asset (company administrator). The issue is one of awareness and the shouldering of responsibility by both sides.

AT&T gets 10 Million US Dollars from NSA for lending a hand, and now a New York City pension fund is suing them for having obtained information illicitly. And what pension fund might that be? And on the same note, the Louisiana Sheriffs’ Pension Fund sues IBM claiming a loss on the market of 12 thousand million dollars. Anyone want to play at sheriffs and board members?

 

 

 

 

 

ACTIONS CORNER

An extra swift increase in share capital has yielded 882.3 million Euros for ThyssenKrupp. A total of 51,448,903 shares are said to have been sold at 17.15 Euros to German and international institutional investors. The launch price of the new shares was 2.8% lower than the final exchange value of December 2, 2013, namely 17.635 Euros. These fresh funds are earmarked to lower the company’s debt burden, currently standing at five thousand million Euros. This influx of capital raises the quota of equity capital from 7.1 to 9.4 percent and, as  result, the powerful Krupp-Stifftung, the company foundation no longer holds sufficient stock to constitute the blocking minority requirement of 25 percent of shares. The largest single shareholder took no part in the initiative letting its quota fall to 22.99 percent.

 

 

 

 

 

AGM Dates

 

 

 

 

 

Politics

The post of auditor filled by rotation

After two years of talks, the negotiators of the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Lithuanian presidency have agreed on an obligatory external system of rotation and a limitation on consultancy activity for company auditors. Stock-market listed banks and companies will, in future, replace their auditors after a maximum of 24 years, with the intent that the changeover will soon be required every ten years. The term may be extended to 14 years one time only provided the post is obtained by bid and the task is shared by at least two companies said Michel Barnier on December 17. The four major accounts auditors KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Ernst & Young e Deloitte & Touche combined occupy a market share of Member States in excess of 85 percent. Dax-listed concerns mainly resort to PwC and KPMG. 24 of the Dax 30 companies will be obliged by the new rules to seek out a new auditor within six years. The principle of rotation must guarantee that controlled and controllers don’t get too close, with the controllers keeping their relationship on a basis of healthy professional scepticism. An auditor who certifies a company’s year-end accounts may not provide consultancy for that company on, for example, fiscal matters. According to the Commissioner for the internal market, despite the measures being less far-reaching than those proposed by the Commission, they are a clear move towards a greater independence of the controllers. Barnier was initially adamant on the issue of joint audits and a shorter period between required rotation. To save companies from a frantic mass quest for auditors when the directive comes into effect, companies have been given from six to nine years depending on whether their auditor has been on board for over 20 years or between 10 and 20 years.

 

 

 

 

 

People

 

Kemal Malik will succeed Prof. Wolfgang Plischke of the Bayer board of management from February 1. Born in England fifty-one years ago, Malik has headed the group for developing new pharmaceuticals within Health Care as well as leading Global Development and being appointed Chief Medical Officer. Malik’s board membership will become effective from April 30 when Plitschke retires.

Bernd Pischetsrieder, Joe Kaeser and Bernd Bohr will stand for election to the Supervisory Board of Daimler at the company’s General Meeting scheduled for April 9. They are replacing Gerard Kleisterlee, Lloyd Trotter and Bernhard Walter who are leaving for age reasons, no extension having been built into their contracts. The new appointments were decided during the auto manufacturer’s Supervisory Board meeting on December 11, 2013, and the decision to nominate the former chair of the Board of Directors of BMW and Volkswagen, the head of Siemens, and the former manager of Bosch, highlights the Supervisory Board’s intention to improve its competency in the automotive industry. In the past, shareholders had more than once expressed their dissatisfaction that Manfred Bischoff was the only Supervisory Board member from the capital side with automotive experience, an issue that Daimler had always declined to take a stance on. One investment fund manager called for “improved automotive competency” instead of “cosmetically increasing the gender quota” when Andrea Jung was appointed during the 2013 general meeting. In addition to Jung, four of the Supervisory Board’s total membership of twenty are women: Sari Baldauf, Petra Heynike, Sabine Maaßen and Elke Tönjes-Werner.

Günter Baachmann retired at the end of 2013. The 61-year-old member of the Board of Directors had been head of technology and production at DMG MORI SEIKI since 2006. His area of responsibility will be merged with that of Board member Christian Thönes who joined the Board of Directors of former GILDEMEISTER in 2012.  The new board has thus been cut back to five members.

Adrian von Hammerstein has decided to quit the company, with effect from 31 March 2014. Under his leadership which began in May 2007,  Kabel Deutschland Holding grew to become Germany’s biggest supplier of cable television. As of April 1, his position will be filled  by 50-year old Manuel Cubero, presently Chief Operating Officer and Vice chair of the Board of Management. Kabel Deutschland recently signed a contract with Vodafone on subordination and revenue transfer.

From April onwards, LEONI will be run by four managers instead of three as at present. In a note of December 11 last, the supplier to the automotive industry announced that that Frank Hiller would be joining the Board of Directors with responsibility from July 1for Wire & Cable Solutions. Klaus Probst who had acted as interim head of cable activities will return to his role of company CEO.

In a communiqué dated December 18 , 2013,  Nemetschek announced that Patrick Heider has been appointed Chief Financial & Operations Officer and spokesperson for the Board of Directors. Heider, whose appointment becomes effective on March 1, will make up the new board together with Sean Flaherty and Viktor Varkonyu. As of March 31, Tobias Wagner will no longer be caretaker manager.

The tribunal of first instance of Schweinfurt has ruled in favour of the application put forward by the Rhön Klinikum Board of Directors by appointing  Katrin Vernau and Reinhard Hartl to the vacant slots as shareholders’ representatives on the Supervisory Board until the next general meeting. Vernau is a partner of the Roland Berger consultancy studio and is onetime Chancellor of Hamburg University. Hartl, a native of  Wolfratshausen is an auditor.

As part of the “Salzgitter AG 2015” initiative, the joint stock company has cut the component number of its Board of Directors from five to three as from January 1. The seats occupied by Wolfgang Eging and Heinz Groschke who resigned on September 30 for age reasons, have remained vacant. The Board is now comprised of Chairman Heinz Jörg Fuhrmann, CFO Burkhard Becker and head of human resources and works manager Michael Kleckbusch.

WMF: new brooms

Bernd Flohr has retired from the board of directors of General Standard-listed consumer goods manufacturer WMF AG as of the end of 2013. An employee since 1983, Flohr joined the board in 2000 as head of finance, human resources, accounts, control, IT and group purchasing. He will leave the company on September 30, 2014 when his contract expires.

He will be replaced on the board from January by Bernd Stoeppel, an American with an excellent command of German, Stoeppel will head finance, controlling, internal auditing and IT. He was head of finance of the Starwood hotel chain for Europe, Africa and the Near East. Beforehand, he had also worked for Electrolux household appliances, Messer Griesheim and Reebok. Financial investor and WMF majority shareholder KKR is expecting Stoeppel to accelerate WMF’s internationalisation programme. Furthermore, it was on KKR’s initiative after it acquired its stake in the company that Peter Feld was summoned in 2012 to be chairman of the board of directors.

Leifheit: the new boss is moving in earlier

The new chairman of  the board of directors of Leifheit AG from January, will be Thomas Radtke. Change at the top in the household goods manufacturer had been in the air for some months but no date was known. Now Radtke is taking over from Claus-Otto Zacharias who had led the company on an interim basis, and is now returning to his post of CEO. Latterly, Radtke had been on the board of directors of Herlitz AG, which he managed to quit at year’s end,  earlier than planned.

KWS Saat: advance notice of change of the guard.

Long-term planning at SDAZ-listed seed producer KWS Saat AG: Hagen Duesbostel has been appointed spokesperson for the board of directors with effect from January 1, 2015. Duesbostel has been a board member since 2003, and he will take over from Philip von dem Bussche who is resigning from the board of directors at the end of 2014 for age reasons. Peter Hofmann will join the board as a new member on October 1, 2014.

 

 

 

 

 

Campus

 

Fighting for shareholders’ rights

One of the items in its stock exchange Schwarzbuch or black-book is causing some concern to the Schutzgemeinschaft der Kapitalanleger (SdK), namely the extent to which the political clout of lobbyists is having an adverse effect on the political rights of minority shareholders. The Schwarzbuch, published on December 21 pointed out inter alia that in cases of Spruchverfahren (procedures of compensation or settlement provided for by German company law to defend minority shareholders) or compensation in the form of cash, shareholders’ rights can be legally overruled. The most recent broadside was instigated by the chairman of Deutscher Anwaltsverein (German Association of lawyers) who wanted to curtail Spruchverfahren to a single case at Oberlandesgericht (Appeal Court) level. This, according to the SdK, shows how important it is for shareholders’ representatives to keep their eyes peeled in future. If the Appeal Court were to become the one and only tribunal, it would rule out any chance of a shareholder bringing a case of settlement to a court of second instance. In addition to individual negative examples, the Schwarzbuch also describes how changing segments within Entry Standard or on the non-official market can be disadvantageous to shareholders in juridical terms. Companies changing to the unofficial market could later abandon it without the obligation to present any kind of compensatory offer in cash. Added to that, recent rulings handed down by the Federal Constitutional Court overturn a judgment by the Federal Court on November 25, 2002 concerning shareholders’ rights of ownership (the so-called Macrotron ruling). SdK feels that the fact that the Federal Court accepted the Constitutional Court ruling without comment is in itself a danger sign. Furthermore, the Schwarzbuch also sheds light on the enormous risks incurred in PMI bonds and CFDs, and recommends taking the greatest care with Chinese listings.

Investing and human resources: Small and Mid-sized companies prepare

According to a survey conducted by DZ Bank, WGZ Bank and the Bundesverband der Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken (BVR) more than 80% of German small- to mid-sized companies this year intend investing in themselves. Furthermore, slightly fewer than 29% intend increasing the amount invested in the second half of 2013. The combination of market optimism and low interest rates has generated the highest integers of the last 13 years that indicate the intention to invest. The average proportion of equity capital of small- to mid-size companies that emerged in 2012 was  23.5%,, the highest since monitoring this factor began in 2001.

 

 

 

 

 

Capital News

 

On  December 4, 2013, The EU Commission fined six banks a total of 1.71 thousand million Euros for their involvement in the interest rate rigging scandal. The banks had manipulated a series of important interest rates, including the so-called Libor, to their advantage. A record fine of 725 million Euros was inflicted on Deutsche Bank. Germany’s biggest bank is to pay the largest amount, followed by no less than 446 million by Societé Générale and  RBS of Britain who is to pay 391 million Euros.

The European Court has rejected the appeal lodged by Siemens against a first instance judgment regarding a former cartel regarding gas-insulated switchgear. This makes the sentence final and thus Siemens is obliged to pay a fine of 396.6 million Euros. The sentence asserts the position of those who sued Siemens and the other members of the cartel for millions of Euros  throughout the various stages of the legal processes. The European Commission had sentenced the Munich ­based company and its fellow European and Japanese cartel members in 2007 to a total of 750 million Euros, a sum that Siemens charged to the 2007 profit and loss account and paid. The European Court rejected the case in 2011.

Cancom: Purchasing is costly

An increase in share capital yielded some 55 million Euros from investors on the issue of 2.4 million new shares by Tec-Dax listed IT service provider Cancom AG. The money has been earmarked for the acquisition of cloud specialist Pironet NDH of Cologne. Cancom had made an offer to the proprietors of Pironet of 4.50 Euros per share which it subsequently increased to 4.80 Euros. The Munich based company already owned almost 30% of Pironet.

 

GK Software: supplying software in house

GK Software AG is set on increasing its share capital by 100,000 Euros  to 1.9 million Euros by issuing 100,000 bearer shares against a contribution in cash.  The only party authorised to underwrite them is the  software giant SAP. The quota of the new shares to be issued is equal to a 5.29% stake in the share capital after  the corporate action. According to Prime Standard-listed GK Software, the issue value of the new stock is 37.82 Euros each, and the income from the issue will be used to further the process of  internationalisation and geographic expansion of the company.

 

Indus: a concentrate of small- to mid-size companies

Indus Holding AG, the SDax-listed holding company raised some 60 million Euros on the capital market to aid its growth programme. It placed 2.2 million new shares at 27.03 Euros per ex new share, realising a gross underwriting revenue of some 60 million Euros, increasing the share capital from authorised capital by 5.8 million to 63.6 million Euros.

Indus Holding AG specialises in small- to mid-size companies. Directly or indirectly it bought up six companies in 2013, each with a potential turnover in excess of 80 million Euros.

Nanogate: with an eye to the Far East

The process of development and growth of Nanogate AG, an Entry Standard-listed company based in Saarland, led it to increase its share capital by some 9.4 million Euros, placing approximately 268,000 new shares at 35 Euros each ex new, with institutional investors. Its share capital, previously 2.7 million Euros, now stands at 3 million. The company specialises in enhancing surface functionality by means of protective treatment against UV, corrosion, electrostatic discharge and abrasion. These processes are used in many sectors, ranging from the auto industry through textiles to the construction industry. The growth presently on the agenda will take place in Asia where the company has received an order from an automobile manufacturer for solutions to enhance component parts for a sub-compact car.

 

 

 

 

 

Director's Dealings

 

Company	Person	Function	Buy / Sell	Total value in Euro	Number of shares	Date
adidas AG	Tourres, Christian	AR	V	9.000.793	100000	20.12.2013
Axel Springer Aktiengesellschaft	Lanz, Lothar	VR	V	247.050	5400	20.12.2013
Bayer Aktiengesellschaft	Baumann, Werner	VR	V	473.211	4600	27.12.2013
BB Biotech AG	Koller, Daniel	VR-CHEF	K	11.005	100	12.12.2013
COMMERZBANK Aktiengesellschaft	Burghardt, Stefan	AR	K	5.418	500	16.12.2013
COMMERZBANK Aktiengesellschaft	Burghardt, Stefan	AR	V	1.447	134	13.12.2013
Continental Aktiengesellschaft	Cramer, Dr. Ralf (Hans)	VR	V	25.525	178	11.11.2013
ElringKlinger AG	Wolf, Dr. Stefan	VR-CHEF	V	29.450	1000	07.01.2014
Evonik Industries AG	Adam, Günter	AR	K	3.900	150	03.07.2013
Evonik Industries AG	Adam, Günter	AR	K	2.438	100	05.07.2013
Evonik Industries AG	Dr. Trautz, Volker	AR	K	106.557	4000	05.08.2013
Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA	Powell, Rice	VR-CHEF	A1	2.544.033	49800	10.12.2013
GAGFAH S.A.	Nardone, Randal A.	AR	V	457.900	45247	04.12.2013
GAGFAH S.A.	Edens, Wesley R.	AR	V	752.483	74356	04.12.2013
Gerresheimer AG	Röhrhoff, Uwe	VR-CHEF	V	266.096	5715	13.12.2013
Münchener Rück AG	Strassl, Dr. Wolfgang		V	138.852	870	23.12.2013
SGL Carbon SE	Köhler, Robert J.	VR-CHEF	V	257.204	8572	06.12.2013
SGL Carbon SE	Köhler, Robert J.	VR-CHEF	V	85.622	2841	09.12.2013
SGL Carbon SE	Köhler, Robert J.	VR-CHEF	V	259.843	8614	10.12.2013
SGL Carbon SE	Köhler, Robert J.	VR-CHEF	V	390.075	13000	11.12.2013
TUI AG	Teck Capital Management		V	1.190.650	100000	20.12.2013
TUI AG	Teck Capital Management		V	1.193.700	100000	23.12.2013
TUI AG	Teck Capital Management		V	1.194.830	100000	27.12.2013
TUI AG	Teck Capital Management		V	1.196.230	100000	30.12.2013

 

 

 

 

VIPsight Shareholders

in December

VIPsight Shareholder ID <click here>

 

 

 

 

 

M & A

 

Tomorrow Focus: strategic sell-off

Prime Standard listed Tomorrow Focus AG, has sold its subsidiary Tomorrow Focus Technologies GmbH (TFT) to the Dutch company TIE Kinetix N.V. Kinetix N.V.’s extraordinary meeting confirmed the acquisition but the price of the transaction has not been made public.

The Internet Tomorrow Focus group has stated that premises and jobs will be maintained. A digital creative agency such as TFT, however, was ill-suited to the business model that targeted the end consumer with products of the kind supplied by ElitePartner, FOCUS Online, HolidayCheck and Jameda. By contrast, this transaction strengthens the position of the Dutch E-commerce purchasers and suppliers of TIE Kinetix on the European and German digital commerce markets.

Celesio: major effect with minor purchase

The Celesio AG pharmaceuticals group is buying over the GesuCon service provider in a deal expected to be finalized in January. Neither of the two parties has revealed the price involved. GesuCon, a small IT enterprise with 8 employees, supplies logistic concepts tailored to the needs of pharmacies, and provides M-dax listed Celesio and its customers reliability and continuity in the development of logistic software. GesuCon is expected to optimize procedures in order to cut the costs involved in maintaining stocks of single products in the pharmacy for Celesio and its subsidiary GEHE Pharmahandel. A company communiqué states that the software is used in over 1,000 pharmacies in four European countries.

 

 

 

VIPsight International

 

VIPsight America - Mexico

22 December 2013

Correlation of forces in the Corporate Governance

The current government has presented a series of structural reforms (educational, financial, agricultural, energy, political), of which there are still some that are about to be adopted by senators and deputies and that have caused great controversy in Mexico. While some groups insist that these reforms will be catastrophic for the country, other submits that will be beneficial.

The groups that are against the reforms that have been submitted are the political parties of the left as they are: the Labor Party (PT, by its Spanish acronym for Partido del Trabajo) and its leader Alberto Anaya, the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD, by its Spanish acronym for Partido de la Revolución Democrática) and its leader Jesus Zambrano, the Citizen Movement (MC, by its Spanish acronym for Movimiento Ciudadano) and its leader Dante Delgado and the Movement National Regeneration (MORENA, by its Spanish acronym for MOvimiento REgenaración NAcional), and its leader Martí Batres as well as its spiritual leader Andres López (it should be noted that this last individual has contents to the Presidency of the Mexican Republic on two occasions and have not been able to win). In addition to the above are the members of the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE, by its Spanish acronym for Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación) which was created on December 17^th, 1979, and it is precisely in these moments that meet 34 years are at a sit that has been going on for several months in protest of the reforms listed above but on all of the education. All of them contend that the structural reforms will bring more disadvantages and less competitiveness to Mexico, the consequences are devastating in all the senses, political, economic and social.

However, despite the above, there are many other groups were in favor of structural reforms, an example is Victor Gonzalez, who is the President of the National Governing Council of the Mexican Institute of Finance Executives (IMEF, by its Spanish acronym for Instituto Mexicano de Ejecutivos de Finanzas, A.C.), which says that with the approval of reforms Mexico will have an accelerated growth of the 5 and 6 percent, as well as greater attraction of investments and that it will generate 1.5 million jobs that the country needs. At the same time, the president of the National Committee of Economic Studies of the IMEF Federico Rubli mentions that the inflationary effect of the reforms only will be reflected in a principle of the implementation of these, but in the coming months will be diluting as well as the Bank of Mexico must make use of the tools of monetary policy to reduce this inflationary effect that could be presented.

With the above, in my humble opinion do not believe that what mention the IMEF is entirely correct. Each of the structural reforms has its positive points, but to revise them in greater depth in each one of them will have more negative points that could make your implementation is directed more toward the negative side the positive. In addition, all makes it appear that what is happening is what is called the Correlation of Forces.

A colleague of mine, Victor Sanchez, spoke to me for the first time a few weeks ago on the Correlation of Forces, which can be defined as the relations of power and strength that each of the groups in power can exert to achieve their goals, whatever, but that if in favor of its cause, in addition, these groups of power could generate positive or negative things for society as a whole. As well the power is understood as a relationship of forces in the domain of a given society and can be understood as the ability to exercise an action to obtain objectives on the part of that group of power.

We can guess that “Where there is power there is resistance” by what leads to the so-called Correlation of Forces, due to the confrontation in the pursuit of the goals of the power groups originate from both the resistance as the use of power to counteract to the opposing party, already that should be considered the mutual relationship of confrontation and struggle as well as the relationship of the domain of a group on the other.

This entire situation is happening in the macroeconomic and social environment of Mexico, the resistance is the left while the group in power that is represented by the government give rise to all this conflagration that live in these days.

If the above situation is given at the social level, I have a question, the Correlation of Forces will not occur into a company? That is to say, there will be groups of internal power that make the company work or not in a way harmonious?

Obviously, the search for the answer to these questions we can tell that it was precisely because the alignment to the interests and objectives of a company are achieved with efficient mechanisms of Corporate Governance that since the time of Berle and Means (1932) passing through the theories of the firm of Fame (1980) (Nobel prize awarded in 2013). In 1976 Michael Jensen and William Meckling wrote about the theory of the firm, where applied the theory of agencies on modern corporations. These authors formally modeled problem principal-agent, finding that cost is incurred due to the conflict of interests between managers and owners. By what each group of internal power have its own objectives, which sought to achieve at any cost. These authors showed that an administrator, which does not have absolutely nothing of rights on the cash flow of the firm, has a potential conflict of interest with the shareholders of the company. Since then the financial economists have worked to understand, define, measure, and minimize such conflicts of agencies; or more precisely, to minimize its negative impact on the value of the firm.

With all of the above, makes me think that my colleague Victor Sanchez to the mention of the term Correlation of Forces was fortuitous for our talk of that time, but that has been widely applied in the company through the Corporate Governance and its control mechanisms both internal and external. It is worth mentioning that each of the companies use to Corporate Governance in a different way and I have also found that for each of the companies have a different meaning, however, the result is the same, the alignment of the objectives of each of the group in power that coexist in a company. It would be possible in a medium-term all firms have the same concept on the Corporate Governance? We will have to see…

 

VIPsight Europe - France

15 December 2013

French banks prefer conflicts of interests and shame than reforms

While the Governor of the Bank of France boasted in July 2012 that no French bank was involved in the interest rates manipulation scandal, Société Générale has just been fined for 446 million euros by the E.C. Competition Authorities. In the same inquiry a procedure has been initiated against Crédit Agricole.

Yet the dispute chapter page 259-261 of the Annual Report of Société Générale ! for the 2012 General provisionnait € 300 million in other cases , said not a word of this investigation by the competition services of the European Commission ( nor folders educated by the AMF and since then has given conviction) ...

Note that the more transparent Crédit Agricole who has not been convicted to date, recognized him having " received requests for information from various authorities in the context of investigations concerning both the determining of intereste rates on several currencies and an certain other market indices, and other operations related to these rates and indices. "

To our knowledge the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) instrcuted no inuqiry in this area and the French government is so addicted to debt that he is quite far to meet its legal obligations as a supervisor of French banks.

But there is not always bad news , the appointment by the Chairman of the National Assembly, Claude Bartolone (PS ) of Thierry Philipponnat, CEO of the Finance Watch NGO , to serve on the panel of the AMF, is clearly good news for investors and shareholders.

This former manager of Amnesty International, also a former banker of BFCE, Exane Paris, UBS and BNP Paribas is General Secretary of Finance Watch, a non -governmental organization specializing in "financial regulation for the service of companies and the real economy, not speculation."

The AMF College is the main decision-making body of the french markets authority AMF . It comprises 16 members (including the chairman , Gérard Rameix, a former member of Proxinvest Consulative Committte. The members of the College term of office is of five years, renewable once . The AMF College is renewed by half every thirty months.

 

VIPsight Europe - Italy

17. December 2013

Telecom Italia 2013 EGM: the unusual proxy fight (not) to gain the control

Introduction

On December 20th, the shareholders of the main Italian telecommunication company, Telecom Italia, will be called to vote on the removal of all Board members. The meeting has been called upon the request of the relevant shareholder Findim SA (5%), an investment vehicle created by Mr. Marco Fossati, who strongly contests the clear conflicts of interest of Telecom Italia’s major shareholder, Telco SpA (22.4%).

The background

Telco is a holding company built in 2007, at the sole scope to acquire the relative majority of Telecom Italia, currently owned by the Spanish telecommunication company Telefonica SA and by the Italian financial companies Assicurazioni Generali SpA, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA and Mediobanca SpA. On September 24th, 2013, Telefonica increased its holdings in Telco, through the subscription of new Telco’s non-voting shares, which may be converted into voting shares starting from January 2014. Following the eventual conversion, Telefonica will control 66% of Telco’s voting share capital, Generali 19.32%, Intesa Sanpaolo and Mediobanca 7.34% each. As per Telco’s shareholder agreement, Telefonica has an option to further increase its holdings in Telco, up to 100%. The CEO of Telefonica, Mr. Cesar Izuel Alierta, as well as the COO Mr. Julio Linares Lopez, sit on the Board of Telecom Italia since 2007.

The two telecommunication companies are competitors on the Brazilian market, through Telecom Italia’s TIM Brazil and Telefonica’s Vivo. Hence, the acquisition by Telefonica of the effective control of Telecom Italia is subject to the approval of the Brazilian Antitrust Regulator (CADE), which recently communicated to Telefonica that any direct or indirect financial interests in TIM Brazil shall be ceased.

Mr. Fossati's reasons

The clear conflicts of interest of Telefonica in Telecom Italia have been strongly contested by Mr. Fossati starting from 2010, when Telefonica acquired the control of the Brazilian Vivo. The growth of Telefonica’s holdings in Telco even strengthened Mr. Fossati’s concerns: Telecom Italia may be forced to quickly sell TIM Brazil at sub-optimal conditions, as he believes it already happened in November, when the Company sold all its holdings of Telecom Argentina to Fintech Group.

Serious concerns also arose over the recent issue of mandatory convertible bonds reserved to qualified investors. On November 7th, the Board approved the issue of € 1.3 billion convertible bonds 6.125%, due November 2016, which were fully allocated through an accelerated book-building procedure. The Company gave priority treatment in the allocation process to three institutions, among which Telefonica, that subscribed 7.9% of the issue. Two independent Board members (Ms. Lucia Calvosa and Mr. Luigi Zingales) opposed the issue and the Italian Market Authority (Consob) has been investigating over the procedures activated by the Company, as well as over the sale of Telecom Argentina.

In order to eliminate any possible conflicts of interest, the dissident shareholder decided to ask the removal of all Telecom Italia’s Board members that were appointed by Telco (all Directors except the independent member Mr. Luigi Zingales, who was appointed by a group of fund managers). To strengthen his position, Mr. Fossati drafted an alternative strategic plan for Telecom Italia, that was presented to institutional investors on November 6th in London, and that is based on the following key points: to create partnerships with international operators (e.g. with Vivendi's GVT in Brazil), to issue € 2 billion convertible bonds, to sell the subsidiary Telecom Italia Media and some properties, not to pay dividends for one year and to defer the sale of TIM Brazil.

The unusual proxy fight

If the December 20th General Meeting will approve the removal of the current Board members, the new Directors shall be appointed through slates of nominees submitted by shareholders holding more than 1% of the share capital. According to Telecom Italia’s bylaws, 80% of the Board members will be appointed from the list obtaining the majority of votes, regardless the actual number of votes gathered, while remaining 20% will be appointed from the eventual other lists.

Only two slates of nominees have been submitted so far: by the major shareholder Telco (including 3 nominees) and by a group of fund managers coordinated by the Italian association Assogestioni (including 7 nominees). Although having requested the removal of the Board and having drafted a strategic plan for the Company, Mr. Fossati decided not to submit a list of candidates for the eventual renewal. As he thought that the Assogestioni’s list would have gathered the large majority of institutional investors’ votes, Mr. Fossati found it more convenient to support their candidates. Nevertheless, according to the Assogestioni’s internal rules, the Directors appointed from their lists of candidates cannot represent the majority of the Board members and cannot hold executive positions into the Company. Furthermore, as per the Company’s bylaws, the Board can be made of a minimum of 7 up to a maximum of 19 members. The Meeting will fix the number of members upon eventual shareholders’ proposals. In case no proposal will be submitted to the Meeting, the number of Directors will remain unchanged to current 15 (as fixed by the AGM held on 2011). So far, neither Telco nor Assogestioni proposed a number of Board members.

The oddity of this unusual proxy fight is that, in case the Board will be removed, none of the contenders wants to gain the control of the Company: Assogestioni because of their internal regulations, Telco because their representatives were removed from the Board. All candidates submitted by Assogestioni are strictly independent from the Company (including the two current members Ms. Calvosa and Mr. Zingales), while Telco’s list includes the current CEO Mr. Marco Patuano and Telefonica’s COO Mr. Linares Lopez, both removed by the shareholders. Of course, in case of removal, Mr. Patuano shall not be charged of executive powers.

In case of removal, who will implement Mr. Fossati’s strategic plan? Who will manage the Company? And who will chair the Board? But questions are even more basic: how many directors will be appointed? Assogestioni submitted 7 candidates, being sure that Telco had submitted 15 candidates, but it did not happen. Unless different proposals are submitted at the Meeting, all 10 nominees will be elected and 5 missing Directors shall be appointed. Who will appoint the missing members? Telco is the only one that has the power to appoint them at the Meeting, through individual nominations, but does Telco really want to integrate the missing directors to re-gain the control of the Board? In that case nothing would really change, but a higher number of independent members would be elected. Nonetheless, Telco may decide to leave the responsibility to Mr. Fossati, who won the battle but has no representatives on the Board.

It should also be noted that even some of the subscribers of the Assogestioni’s slate are not strictly independent from Telco’s shareholders: Eurizon and Fideuram are part of Intesa Sanpaolo's group, Mediolanum and UniCredit's Pioneer are linked to the shareholders agreement controlling Mediobanca.

Despite the concerns of Mr. Fossati over the clear conflicts of interest of Telefonica are absolutely sharable, not submitting any candidates for the eventual renewal contributed to create a huge uncertainty in case of removal of the current Board members. Telecom Italia has to face a very delicate situation: a very high net debt (amounting to € 28 billion, or 1.4 times the shareholders’ equity, as per the 3rd Edition Report), poor operating  performances on the domestic market, both Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s recently downgraded the Company to a sub-investment grade and Italian political and financial contexts are still highly turbulent. In a so delicate situation, it is clear that the Company should strongly avoid further uncertainty.

Several newspapers reported that both ISS and Glass Lewis recommended approving the Board removal. Although supporting Mr. Fossati’s reasons, ECGS recommended (proxy reports issued on December 4th) and still recommends opposition, as the concerns over the huge uncertainty deriving from the removal overwhelm the risks of Telefonica’s conflicts of interest. Approximately 50% of the share capital is expected to vote at the Meeting, of which 22.4% represented by Telco, 5% by Fossati’s Findim and approximately 23% by independent shareholders. Hence, it is impossible to predict the outcomes of the Meeting.

Further obstacles to the shareholders' vote

The problems for shareholders are not limited to the decision whether to support Mr. Fossati or not, as great confusion was also created by Telecom Italia itself, that published inconsistent meeting material: the Notice of Meeting includes a different number of resolutions respect to the proxy card published by the Company itself!

The Notice of Meeting includes 5 resolutions: 1) the removal of the Board, 2) the eventual appointment of the new Board (in case the removal is approved), 3) the eventual integration of 2 Board members (in case the removal is rejected), 4) the elimination of shares’ par value and 5) the share capital increase to serve the mandatory convertible bonds. In case the removal is approved, shareholders will have to appoint the new Board members, having previously defined the number of members, the term of office and the remuneration of the new members. Hence, as per the Notice of Meeting, item 2 and 3 include bundled resolutions. But the bundled resolutions are unbundled on the proxy card, still issued by the Company, that includes 9 items: 1) removal, 2) eventual definition of the number of Directors, 3) eventual definition of the term of office, 4) eventual definition of the remuneration, 5) eventual election of the Board members, 6) eventual appointment of one Board member, 7) eventual appointment of the second Board member, 8) elimination of shares’ par value, 9) share capital increase.

The crazy situation affected also the major voting platform, which is based on the notifications received by the local custodians. Foreign institutional investors found 6 resolutions to be voted! While item 2 is still bundled, item 3 correctly allows shareholders to separately vote for the eventual appointment of each missing director.

At a time when proxy advisers’ activities are strongly criticized, it would be highly recommendable that national and supranational market Authorities cast a glance on the correctness of the entire voting channel, that involves also the issuers (and their advisers), the custodians, the voting platforms and the proxy agents.

 

VIPsight Europe - Switzerland

10 December 2013

Ethos and the Committee on Workers Capital have launched Global Proxy Review 2013

Ethos and the Global Unions Committee on Workers Capital (CWC) announce the launch of Global Proxy Review 2013, a report and interactive website that encourages investors to take an active role in proxy voting oversight for global equity portfolios.

The votes profiled in the report encompass ESG issues at companies in 15 economic sectors. They include votes held at multinational corporations such as: Wal-Mart, News Corporation, Barrick Gold, Heineken, Standard Bank, Telefonica, UBS and Glencore-Xstrata. Approximately one third of the votes selected related to executive compensation, reflecting a continued preoccupation toward excessive executive pay one year after the ‘shareholder spring’ of 2012. National regulatory contexts are also evolving to facilitate active ownership by shareholders; ‘say-on-pay’ votes are now mandatory in all countries featured in the report except Canada and the results are binding in Australia, the Netherlands, the UK (starting in October 2013) and will become binding by 2015 in Switzerland. In addition to governance issues, the votes profiled also include significant social issues such as reporting on human rights related risks.

 

 

 

 

 

VIPsight gennaio

AZIENDE

Eliott rifiuta l’offerta di acquisto per Celesio

Per quanto riguarda il rilevamento della Celesio per ben 6,1 miliardi di Euro da parte di McKesson la Eliott non cede.  Le comunicazioni secondo le quali il Hedgefond avrebbe accettato l’offerta del gruppo USA, sarebbero prive di ogni fondamento. Il commerciante di farmaci offre 23 Euro per ogni azione dell’azienda di Stoccarda. Entro il 9 gennaio deve ricevere almeno il 75 percento del capitale e due bond convertibili perché la transazione possa riuscire. Haniel aveva già preso degli accordi con McKEsson offrendo la sua partecipazione del 50,01.  Il CdA e il consiglio di sorveglianza di Celesio avevano consigliato agli azionisti di accettare l’offerta. Finora gli azionisti trattano la McKesson con indifferenza. Al 19 dicembre 2013 gli americani avevano raccolto solo 0,21  per cento del capitale azionario. Seguendo Eliott e nella speranza di ottenere più soldi, anche altri hedgefond hanno acquistato delle azioni di Celesio. Durante l’assorbimento di Kabel Deutschland da parte di Vodafone la Eliott aveva acquistato circa il dieci percento. Non riuscendo a destabilizzare la transazione aveva offerto una parte delle sue azioni. Se la vendita a McKesson fallisse,  il pacchetto azionario di Eliott perderebbe notevolmente di valore. Haniel potrebbe invece reinserire la sua quota nel proprio Portfolio e attendere la prossima opportunità.

Evotec: correzione verso il basso

A causa di una ricerca non compiuta la Evotec AG, quotata nel TecDax, è stata costretta ad abbassare la previsione di fatturato per il 2013 da 90 a 100 milioni a 84 a 86 milioni di Euro. Secondo il management dell’azienda il profitto netto aggiustato potrebbe risultare inferiore a quello del 2012 e non superiore come previsto.

Gli introiti della società si consistono per lo più di pagamenti per obbiettivi raggiunti. Se una ricerca non procede come prevista l’azienda è costretta a rinunciare ad un pagamento importante. Lo studio preclinico realizzato insieme al partner Janssen Pharmaceuticals riguardava una potenziale sostanza attiva contro la depressione. Secondo l’agenzia di stampa tedesca, la dpa, la commessa aveva fatto sperare la Evotec in un incasso fino a 100 milioni di Euro.

Rhön Kliniken: accordo di pace vicino al capezzale

Accordo di pace natalizio tra i grandi azionisti del Rhön Klinikum AG.  La Asklepios e  la B.Braun che tengono rispettivamente circa un 20% del capitale sociale, non si oppongono più contro la vendita di 43 cliniche della Rhön al co-azionista Fresenius. Quest’ultimo, titolare di una quota del 5% alla Rhön Klinikum, è ora in grado di inserire la fetta più grande del business della Rhön nella sua rete di cliniche. In cambio la Helios,  affiliata della Fresenius nel campo della gestione di cliniche,  ha promesso al produttore di tecnologia medica B.Braun un contratto di fornitura a lungo termine. Nella nuova formazione la Fresenius Helios diventerà con 117 cliniche e un fatturato di circa 5,5 miliardi di  Euro il più grande gestore privato di cliniche in Europa.

Buhlmann's Corner

Come mai? e altri punti interrogativi!

Come mai un CEO deve sciogliere il suo contratto, stipularne uno nuovo (altrove) e cambiare paese prima di avere il coraggio di confrontarsi con l’irresponsabilità della politica? Per accusare l’irresponsabile apatia dei politici nel suo segmento aziendale e di mercato? Eppure un motivo ci sarà:

René Obermann, fino a ieri Chief Executive Officer della Deutsche Telekom, si alza e in un’intervista pubblicata su un grande giornale tedesco (Handelsblatt, 09 dicembre 2013) pronuncia alcune semplici verità, incriminando ad esempio il governo tedesco di ignorare in modo assonato (lo chiama diversamente) la questione NSA, e ha ragione. Poi denuncia il fatto ridicolo di un ministro degli interni sonnolento (lo chiama diversamente) che prima si scorda di occuparsi della tutela dei dati in generale per poi chiedere all’industria di sbrigarsi nel mettere finalmente in sicurezza i dati propri – una vera e propria sfacciataggine ministeriale.  E chi s’interesserà della violazione del diritto internazionale? Che differenza fa se il cellulare intercettato è quello della Cancelliera o il mio – se ricordo bene, c’erano delle regole, o no? E’ vero, da ora in poi non posso escludere che un giudice (magari sulle Bermudas) un giorno mi accusi di terrorismo e che un altro giorno qualcuno mi notifichi la sua decisione(ovviamente senza possibilità di impugnazione).

Con quale giustificazione morale (quella giuridica si fermerebbe comunque a Washington) l’amministrazione americana della SEC (Security Exchange Commission) o della DoJ (Departmente of Justice) si permette di occuparsi della presunta o effettiva corruzione in Siemens, ThyssenKrupp, Daimler & Co,? Su quale base etica questi nominano degli ex-giudici, ministri o altri per controllare la coscienza morale di una nazione che offende il diritto internazionale? Com’è possibile che i delitti economici possono essere perseguiti solo da bande di consulenti americani e puniti con sanzioni pecuniarie di miliardi di Euro versate nelle casse americane?

Ma chi manderà finalmente le squadre di pulizia negli Stati Uniti? Persino Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple, Yahoo e colleghi cominciano (finalmente) ad interessarsi dell’atteggiamento del loro governo e della sua amministrazione. Mi viene quasi il dubbio che i novanti giorni di messa in sicurezza dei dati sui collegamenti telefonici siano stati introdotti in Europa solamente per dare una mano alla NSA di gestire (commercialmente) meglio i momenti di punta e ridurre la volatilità. Dato che (lì) il lavoro sul fronte sembra essere dato in outsourcing la scusa storica del “non ne sapevamo niente” potrebbe alla fine anche funzionare.  Fatto sta che fino ad oggi nessun governo, ne a Berlino, ne a Londra e tanto meno a Washington ha annunciato qualcosa di più di semplici perizie – il whistle-blower che salva chi pensa democratico è ancora una rifugiato perseguito in attesa di asilo politico.  Le opinioni rimangono nascoste in conversazioni 1 to 1, la sistemazione del problema resta in mano alla (sempre più provata) democrazia.

Povera public governance e grazie René Obermann – almeno uno tra quelli che sanno come vanno le cose ci svela qualche verità.

Chissà, forse mandare regolarmente a spasso (e anche oltre confine) qualche CEO potrebbe essere una grande risorsa.

Resta tuttavia da chiedersi: dove sono gli azionisti? Se i manager non hanno opinione, potrebbero essere loro a dare il buon esempio, al di fuori di riunioni riservati, circoli privati o webinar limitati a pochi utenti. La questione non è chi ha la maggiore “lack of responsibility” ovvero “duty to act”, l’asset manager  (azionista) oppure il manager dell’asset  (l’amministratore)? La domanda riguarda la consapevolezza e l’assunzione della propria responsabilità, da ambedue i lati.

AT&T incassa 10 Mio di USD dalla NSA per il suo aiuto e adesso un fondo pensioni di New York muove causa contro di loro per ottenere informazioni  - e chi conosce questo fondo? Nello stesso contesto il Louisiana Sheriffs Pensionsfond ha fatto causa contro la IBM per far valere una perdita di valore di mercato di 12 miliardi di dollari – sheriff versus sindaci?

The German Mittelstand

Sottovalutazione dei rischi inerenti ai bond riservati alle PMI

Il mercato per i bond riservati alle PMI è in continua crescita. Con il famoso sigillo di qualità conosciuto anche all’estero “German Mittelstand” sono stati emessi negli ultimi tre anni 145 titoli di 127 imprese per un volume di ben 5,6 miliardi di Euro. Questo è quanto ha rilevato dal controllore di solvibilità Scope Ratings poche settimane fa. Alcune case di emissione e consulenti del mercato dei capitali si sono proprio specializzati in questo settore lucrativo. Dopo la borsa di Stoccarda anche le piazze di Francoforte, Düsseldorf e alcune borse regionali hanno seguito il modello creando un segmento di mercato apposito per le obbligazioni riservate alle piccole e medie imprese. Spesso, però, qualità e quantità non armonizzano.  Ultimamente gli investitori se ne sono accorti sulla propria pelle.

Windreich, specialista per parchi eolici, Getgoods, commerciante online,  FFK, smaltitore di rifiuti e di recente anche la HKW Personalkonzepte: tutti costretti a dichiarare l’insolvenza. Per i creditori, il sigillo di qualità del Mittelstand tedesco e simbolo di affidabilità e sicurezza, si è trasformato in un fallimento, nel vero senso della parola.  La Scope Ratings fa presente che non si tratta di casi rari. Nel 2010 tra gli emittenti PMI si sono registrati 14 insolvenze; sono stati piazzati 16 bond per un totale di 650 milioni di Euro. Secondo gli esperti la default rate rispetto al volume totale è del 11,6 percento. Questo significa che in media solo l’88  percento del capitale investito è stato rimborsato agli investitori.

I dati diventano particolarmente amari se visti nel contesto europeo. Con riferimento all’anno 2012 Standard & Poor’s  aveva parlato di una default rate del 2,2 percento per high yield bond europei. Molti considerano i high yield bond ormai come “junk bond”, ovvero “bond spazzatura”, una definizione che non giova al pendant tedesco.

Gli emittenti di obbligazioni riservate alle PMI sono però solo una piccola parte nell’insieme chiamato deutscher Mittelstand. Sarebbe sbagliato criticarlo senza fare differenza. Piuttosto bisognerebbe che gli investitori capissero che una crescita degli interessi di diverse centinaia di punti rispetto a titoli di Stato paragonabile comporta un rischio notevolmente maggiore.

Corporate Actions

Grazie ad un aumento di capitale per direttissima la ThyssenKrupp ha raccolto 882,3 milioni di Euro. Le 51.448.903 azioni sarebbero state vendute per 17,15 Euro per ogni titolo a investitori istituzionali tedeschi e internazionali. Il prezzo di emissione delle nuove azioni corrispondeva ad una riduzione del 2,8 % sul cambio finale del 2 dicembre 2013 del valore di 17 635 Euro. Il denaro fresco deve servire per abbattere i debiti di ultimamente cinque miliardi di Euro. Grazie all’afflusso di capitale la quota di capitale proprio migliora da 7,1 percento a 9,4 percento. In seguito all’aumento del capitale la potente fondazione Krupp (Krupp-Stiftung) non raggiunge più la quota necessaria per la blocking minority di 25 percento delle azioni. Il più grande azionista individuale non aveva partecipato all’iniziativa lasciando che la sua quota si diluisse al 22,99 percento.

Politica

I revisori dei conti si susseguono nelle cariche

Dopo due anni di negoziazioni i negoziatori del parlamento Europeo, della Commissione europea e della presidenza lituana hanno concordato una rotazione obbligatoria esterna e una limitazione delle prestazioni di consulenza per i revisori dei conti. Banche e aziende quotate in borsa devono in futuro sostituire i loro revisori dei conto dopo un massimo di 24 anni. La regola vuole che prossimamente il cambio avviene ogni dieci anni. Il termine può essere prolungato una sola volta per 14 anni se viene fatto un bando e se almeno due aziende si dividono il mandato, dice Michel Barnier il 17 dicembre. I quattro grandi controllori dei bilanci KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Ernst & Young e Deloitte & Touche registrano nella maggior parte dei paesi membri un quota di mercato superiore al 85 percento. Nel Dax i mandati vanno prevalentemente a PwC e KPMG. 24 dei gruppi appartenenti al DAX 30 saranno costretti inseguito al nuovo regolamento di cercarsi entro sei anni un nuovo revisore. Il principio di rotazione deve garantire che controllori e controllati non entrino troppo in confidenza mantenendo un atteggiamento scettico professionale da parte dei controllori. I revisori che attestano il bilancio di un’azienda non possono allo stesso momento fungere da consulenti, ad esempio per questioni fiscali. Secondo il commissario per il mercato interno, le misure, anche se meno ambiziose di quelle proposte dalla Commissione, mirano chiaramente ad una maggiore indipendenza dei controllori. Barnier insisteva inizialmente su l’obbligatorietà di un tandem di revisori (joint audits) chiedendo inoltre delle scadenze di rotazione forzata più brevi. Per evitare che con l’entrata in vigore delle direttiva si scateni una ricerca forsennata di società di revisioni, alle aziende sono state concesse inizialmente sei o nove anni di tempo, a seconda se il controllore è a bordo da oltre 20 o da 10 a 20 anni.

Persone

Il primo febbraio Kemal Malik succederà al Prof. Wolfgang Plischke come membro del Board of Management della Bayer. Nato in Inghilterra, il cinquantunenne è stato responsabile nel settore Health Care del gruppo Bayer di sviluppo di nuovi farmaci, oltre ad aver guidato lo Sviluppo globale e ad aver occupato il posto di Chief Medical Officer. Malik entrerà a far parte del Board il 30 aprile, data in cui Plitschke lo lascerà per andare in pensione.

Durante l’assemblea generale della Daimler il 9 aprile a Berlino Bernd Pischetsrieder, Joe Kaeser e Bernd Bohr si candideranno per essere eletti nel consiglio di sorveglianza. Sostuiranno Gerhard Kleisterlee, Lloyd Trotter e Bernhard Walter che lasciano l’organo per motivi di età.  Un prolungamento dei mandati non era previsto.  Le nuove nomine sono state decise dai membri del consiglio di sorveglianza del gruppo automobilistico durante la loro riunione del 11 dicembre 2013. Con la nomina dell’ex presidente del CdA di BMW e Volkswagen, del capo della Siemens e dell’ex manager di Bosch il consiglio di sorveglianza si propone di migliorare la propria competenza nel settore automobilistico. In passato gli azionisti avevano più volte criticato che con Manfred Bischoff uno solo dei membri del consiglio proveniente dal lato del capitale fosse esperto nel settore. Daimler aveva rifiutato ogni presa di posizione a riguardo. Durante l’assemblea generale del 2013 il manager di un fondo di investimento aveva chiesto in occasione della nomina di Andrea Jung “maggiore competenza di settore” , anziché “un aumento cosmetico della quota rosa”. Oltre alla Jung altre quattro donne su un totale di 20 membri occupano un posto nell’organo di sorveglianza: Sari Baldauf, Petra Heynike, Sabine Maaßen e Elke Tönjes-Werner.

Alla fine dell’anno Günter Bachmann è andato in pensione. Il sessantunenne membro del CdA era dal 2006 responsabile in DMG MORI SEIKI per i segmenti tecnologia e produzione. Il suo settore farà in  futuro parte del campo di  responsabilità del membro del CdA Christian Thönes che è entrato nel gennaio 2012 nel CdA della ex-GILDEMEISTER. Il nuovo board è stato quindi ridotto a cinque membri.

Il 31 marzo Adrian von Hammerstein lascerà l’azienda per sua scelta. Sotto la sua guida,  iniziata a maggio 2007,  la  Kabel Deutschland Holding è diventata il più grande operatore di televisione via cavo in Germania. Il suo successore dal 1 aprile è il cinquantenne Manuel Cubero, attualmente  Chief Operating Officer e Vice presidente del Board of Management. Kabel Deutschland e Vodafone hanno di recente firmato un contratto di dominazione e di trasferimento degli utili.

Da Aprile la LEONI sarà diretta da quattro e non più da tre manager. Lo scorso 11 dicembre il fornitore automobilistico ha comunicato che Frank Hiller raggiungerà il CdA dell’azienda per assumersi da luglio in poi la responsabilità per il settore Wire&Cable Solutions. Klaus Probst che finora si è occupato del settore cavi si concentrerà in futuro sul suo ruolo di CEO del gruppo.

Il 18 dicembre 2013 la Nemetschek ha comunicato che il 1 marzo Patrick Heider prenderà il posti di Chief Financial & Operations Officer, nonché di portavoce del CdA. Heider formerà il nuovo board insieme a Sean Flaherty e Viktor Varkonyu. Con la nomina di Heider, Tobias Wagner lascerà l’attività svolta ad interim alla fine di marzo.

Su richiesta del CdA della Rhön Klinikum la pretura di Schweinfurt ha deciso di nominare fino alla prossima assemblea generale Katrin Vernau e Reinhard Hartl come rappresentati degli azionisti nel consiglio di sorveglianza, per occupare i posti liberi. Vernau è partner dell’azienda di consulenza Roland Berger ed era Cancelliera dell’Università di Amburgo. Hartl è revisore dei conti e viene da Wolfratshausen.

Nell’ambito dell’iniziativa “Salzgitter AG 2015” la Salzgitter ha ridotto dal primo gennaio il CdA della società per azioni da cinque a tre membri. Non sono stati rinnovati i posti dei due membri Wolfgang Eging e Heinz Groschke che per motivi di età lasciano l’organo per il 30 di settembre. Il board rimane composto dal suo presidente Heinz Jörg Fuhrmann, dal CFO Burkhard Becker e dal responsabile delle risorse umane e del direttore del lavoro Michael Kleckbusch.

WMF: nuova guardia

Nella WMF AG, quotata nel General Standard, il membro del CdA Bernd  Flohr si è ritirato alla fine del 2013. Flohr è entrato nel CdA nel 2000. E’ stato responsabile per i settori delle finanze, delle risorse umane, dei bilanci, del controlling, IT e acquisti del gruppo. Attivo per l’azienda produttrice di beni del consumo dal 1983,  lascerà l’azienda come da contratto il 30 settembre 2014.

A prendere il suo posto a partire da gennaio sarà l’americano Bernd Stoeppel che si occuperà di finanze, controlling, revisione interna e IT.  Stoeppel, che parla un ottimo tedesco è stato dal 2007 responsabile per le finanze nella catena di alberghi Starwood per il mercato europeo, africano e del vicino oriente. Prima ancora lavorava per Electrolux elettrodomestici, Messer Griesheim e Reebok L’investitore finanziario  e azionista di maggioranza KKR si aspetta da lui una maggiore internazionalizzazione della WMF.  Dopo il suo ingresso nel 2012 aveva anche chiamato Peter Feld come nuovo presidente  del CdA.

Leifheit: il nuovo capo arriva prima

Da gennaio il nuovo presidente del CdA della Leifheit AG si chiama Thomas Radtke. Già nei mesi scorsi si prospettava un cambio al vertice del produttore di articoli per la casa, ma non si conosceva la data. Radtke prende adesso il posto di Claus-Otto Zacharias che aveva guidato  l’azienda pro tempore e che ora riprende il suo posto di CEO. Ultimamente Radtke faceva parte del CdA della Herlitz AG che ha potuto lasciare in anticipo per la fine dell’anno.

KWS Saat: cambio di guida annunciato in anticipo

Progetti a lungo termine nella KWS Saat AG: Dal 1 gennaio 2015 Hagen Duesbostel diventerà portavoce del CdA del produttore di semi quotato nel SDAZ. Duesbostel è membro del board dal 2003 e prenderà il posto di Philip von dem Bussche che per motivi di età lascerà il CdA alla fine del 2014. Peter Hofmann entrerà invece il 1 ottobre 2014 come nuovo membro del CdA.

Campus

Lotta per i diritti degli azionisti

Nel suo Schwarzbuch Börse 2013 la Schutzgemeinschaft der Kapitalanleger (SdK) si mostra preoccupata dell’influenza politica dei lobbyisti che incide sempre di più sui diritti degli azionisti di minoranza. Lo Schwarzbuch, pubblicato il 21 dicembre, rivela tra l’altro che in casi di   Spruchverfahren  (procedura di compensazione/liquidazione prevista dal diritto societario tedesco a difesa degli azionisti di minoranza)  o di compensazione in contanti i diritti degli azionisti possono essere soppressi dal punto di vista giuridico. L’ultima offensiva è partita su iniziativa del presidente del Deutscher Anwaltsverein (Associazione tedesca degli avvocati) che voleva ridurre lo Spruchverfahren ad una sola istanza, andando direttamente l’Oberlandesgericht (Corte d’Appello). Secondo la SdK questo fa capire quanto sia necessario che i rappresentanti degli azionisti abbiano “in futuro un occhio ancora più vigile”.  La decisione di stabilire l’Oberlandesgericht come prima e unica istanza precluderebbe ad esempio agli azionisti la possibilità di portare in un caso di liquidazione la decisione davanti ad un giudice in una seconda istanza. Oltre a casi singoli negativi lo Schwarzbuch descrive anche il motivo per cui il cambio di segmento nel Entry Standard o nel mercato inufficiale possa avere degli svantaggi giuridici per gli azionisti. Cambiando verso il  mercato inufficiale le aziende avrebbero successivamente la possibilità di abbandonarlo senza presentare alcuna offerta di compensazione in contanti. Si aggiunge che recenti decisioni della Corte Costituzionale Federale annullano una decisione della Corte Federale del 25 novembre 2002 sui diritti di proprietà degli azionisti (la cosiddetta decisione Macrotron. La SdK ritiene che il fatto che la stessa Corte Federale abbia accettato le decisioni senza intervenire debba essere considerato come un segno d’allarme. Lo Schwarzbuch fa inoltre chiarezza sugli enormi rischi legati ai bond PMI e ai CFD e consiglia la massima attenzione per quanto riguarda i listing cinesi.

Investimenti e risorse umane: le PMI si preparano

Secondo una ricerca fatta da DZ Bank, WGZ Bank e dal Bundesverband der Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken (BVR) quest’anno oltre l’80 percento delle PMI tedesco vogliono investire nelle loro azienda. Poco meno del 29 percento di loro sono anche disposti a spendere di più quanto hanno speso nel secondo semestre 2013. Le buone prospettive di business e i bassi tassi d’interesse hanno provocato la più alta intenzione di investimento degli ultimi 13 anni. La quota media di capitale proprio delle PMI rilevata nel 2012 ha raggiunto con 23,5 percento il livello più alto da quando, nel 2001, si è cominciato a calcolarlo.

Anche per quanto riguarda le risorse umane le PMI si muovono: quasi il 34 percento delle imprese intervistate prevedono nuove assunzioni. Il 57 percento di questi temono però di dover faticare per trovare del personale adatto a causa della diffusa mancanza di risorse specializzate. Gli autori della ricerca hanno intervistato titolari e amministratori di circa 1500 imprese.

Capital News

Nello scandalo sulle manipolazioni dei tassi d’interesse, il 4 dicembre 2013  la Commissione EU ha comminato a sei istituti finanziari coinvolti negli accordi delle sanzioni per complessivamente 1,71 miliardi. Gli istituti di credito avevano manipolato dei tassi d’interesse importanti tra cui il cosiddetto Libor, per trarrne vantaggio. Una sanzione record di 725 milioni di Euro è stata inflitta alla Deutshe Bank. La banca più grande della Germania deve pagare la somma più alta, seguita da Societé Générale, che deve sborsare ben 446 milioni di Euro e della britannica RBS che dovrà pagare 391 milioni di Euro.

La Corte Europea ha rifiutato il ricorso di Siemens contro una sentenza di primo grado emessa dai suoi giudici nell’ambito di un ex-cartello per gas-insulated switchgear. A questo punto Siemens è costretta a pagare una sanzione di 396,6 milioni di Euro. Con la sentenza della Corte Europea la sanzione passa in giudicato. La sentenza confermerà i clienti che avevano accusato la Siemens e altri membri del cartello davanti a diversi giudici rispettivamente per somme milionarie. Nel 2007 la commissione europea aveva condannato l’azienda di Monaco e altre aziende europee e giapponesi facenti parte del cartello a sanzioni complessive di 750 milioni di Euro. Nel 2007 Siemens aveva già inserito la sanzione nel conto profitti e perdite e anche pagato. La corte Europea aveva respinto la causa già nel 2011.

Cancom: Comprare costa

Tramite un aumento di capitale, l’IT service provider Cancom AG ha raccolto circa 55 milioni di Euro da investitori. L’azienda quotata nel Tec Dax aveva emesso intorno a 2,4 milioni di nuove azioni. Il denaro sarà destinato all’acquisto dello specialista di cloud Pironet NDH di Colonia. Cancom aveva offerto ai titolari di Pironet 4,50 Euro per ogni azione, aumentando poi a 4,80 Euro. L’azienda di Monaco possedeva già una quota di quasi 30 % della Pironet.

GK Software: fornitori di software tra di loro

La GK Software AG intende alzare il capitale sociale con un aumento di capitale di 100.000 Euro, a 1,9 milioni di Euro. L’intenzione è di emettere 100.000 azioni al portatore contro un contributo in contanti. L’unico autorizzato a sottoscrivere è il gigante del software SAP. La quota delle nuove azioni da emettere corrisponderebbe ad una  partecipazione del 5,29% al capitale  sociale, dopo la corporate action. Secondo la GK Software, quotata nel Prime Standard, l’importo di emissione delle nuove azioni è di 37,82 Euro ad azione. Il ricavo dall’emissione servirà  - così la GK Software – per promuovere l’internazionalizzazione e l’espansione geografica dell’azienda.

Indus: PMI concentrati

Per la propria crescita la società di partecipazione Indus Holding AG si è procurato sul mercato dei capitali circa 60 milioni di Euro. L’azienda, quotata nel SDax, ha piazzato 2,2 milioni di nuove azioni per un prezzo di 27,03 ad azione ex new realizzando così un underwriting revenue lordo di circa 60 milioni di Euro.  Il capitale sociale da capitale autorizzato cresce così di circa 5,8 milioni a 63,6 milioni di Euro.

La Indus Holding AG è specializzata nelle PMI e ha rilevato direttamente e indirettamente nel 2013 sei aziende, ciascuna con un fatturato potenziale di oltre 80 milioni di  Euro.

Nanogate: sguardo verso il lontano oriente

La Nanogate AG specialista in superfici, vuole espandere la sua competenza e ha realizzato a tal fine un aumento di capitale con un volume di circa 9,4 milioni di Euro. L’azienda, quotata nel Entry Standard, ha piazzato circa 268.000 nuove azioni per 35 Euro cad. ex new presso investitori istituzionali. Il capitale sociale è aumentato da 2,7 a circa 3 milioni di Euro. L’azienda con sede nel Saarland affina superfici e rende dei materiali più funzionali grazie all’applicazione di rivestimenti protettivi contro con i raggi UV, contro la corrosione, contro la scarica elettrostatica e contro i graffi. Le soluzioni offerte interessano i settori più vari, dall’industria automobilistica, al tessile o anche all’edilizia. La crescita prevista riguarda in particolare l’Asia, dove l’azienda ha appena ricevuto un ordine da un produttore di automobili per l’affinamento di elementi di costruzione di una macchina utilitaria.

M&A

Tomorrow Focus: vendita strategica

La Tomorrow Focus AG, azienda quotata nel Prime Standard, ha ceduto la sua affiliata Tomorrow Focus Technologies GmbH (TFT) all’olandese TIE Kinetix N.V. L’assemblea generale straordinaria ha confermato l’acquisto. Le parti tacciono su prezzo della transazione.

Secondo il gruppo Internet Tormorrow Focus le sedi e i posti di lavoro vengono mantenuti. L’agenzia digitale e creativa TFT non si inseriva bene modello di business focalizzato sul consumatore finale con offerte online come ElitePartner, FOCUS Online, HolidayCheck e jameda. I compratori olandesi e fornitori di e-commerce di TIE Kinetix rinforzano con l’acquisto la loro posizione sul mercato europeo e tedesco del commercio digitale.

Celesio: piccolo acquisto, grande effetto

Il gruppo farmaceutico Celesio AG rileva il service provider GesuCon, la negoziazione dovrebbe chiudersi a gennaio. Le due aziende non si sono pronunciate sul prezzo della transazione. La piccola casa IT con 8 collaboratori fornisce soluzioni logistiche per farmaci e garantisce a Celesio, quotata nel M-Dax, e suoi clienti continuità e sviluppo della sofware di logistica. Insieme Celesio e alla sua affiliata GEHE Pharmahandel la GesuCon ottimizzerà il processo e i costi di approvvigionamento dei singoli prodotti in farmacia. Secondo le informazioni date dall’azienda la soluzione viene già utilizzata in oltre 1000 farmacia in quattro paesi europei.