ACTIONS CORNER

In a company communiqué dated 24 October, Deutsche Börse states that in the lengthy legal battle for damages claimed on behalf of the US victims of a terrorist attack, it has collected the required number of plaintiff signatures for an out-of-court settlement. In order for the settlement to come into effect, the company involved, Clearstream, a subsidiary of the Deutsche Börse group, will present a petition of rejection of the claim to the appropriate US tribunal that will then proceed towards formal approval of the settlement. This will bring an end to the legal battle following an attack in Lebanon in 1983. The settlement will grant the families of the soldiers killed or wounded access to a 1.75 thousand million dollar fund that Iran, who was high on the list of suspected instigators had parked on the Clearwater account

In the never-ending saga of its standoff with the European Union Free Competition Authority, Deutsche Post has won a battle. On October 24, the European court in Luxemburg ruled in favour of re-opening the case under the jurisdiction of the EU court of first instance. The European court ruled that the order for commencement of proceedings of 2007 was unquestionably of a nature to be challenged. The court of first instance had ruled otherwise. Deutsche Post is thus entitled to appeal against the order for commencement of proceedings put forward for its having received subsidies. In 2002, the Commission had declared that 572 million Euros in subsidies paid to Deutsche Post were inadmissible.

The Vereinigung Institutionelle Privatanleger (VIP eV) has initiated an expedited shareholder action to verify the offer put forward by Volkswagen in the MAN free float. Domination and transfer of the accrued profits are governed by contract between the Wolfsburg auto group and industrial vehicle manufacturer MAN. Volkswagen, which holds a 75% stake in MAN, made an offer of 80.89 Euros per share. On 24 October 24, the ordinary shares were being traded at 88.66 Euros and the preference shares at 88 Euros.

In the court case examining corruption allegations, Lutz Lorenz has levelled hard-hitting accusations against Uriel Sharef. At the time in question, the former head of Siemens in Colombia had succeeded to the successor of Sharef, a former member of Siemens board of management. Testifying in the penal court of the Munich Landgericht Lorenz stated that at the end of 2003/early 2004 he had informed Sharef the accused that Siemens Panama was holding a 14 million dollar slush fund. Sharef is alleged to have declined Lorenz’s request to bring these funds back to within the legitimate accounting circuit of Siemens AG.