The Wirecard boss had repeatedly used weaknesses in the share price for acquisitions in recent years.
–
(Photo: Bloomberg / Getty Images)
–
– –
–
Munich Wirecard boss Markus Braun has massively increased his stake in his own company. Through his MB Beteiligungsgesellschaft he bought Wirecard shares worth almost 2.5 million euros. The payment service provider announced this on Thursday afternoon.
Braun, who is already the largest single shareholder in Wirecard with a stake of around 7.1 percent, has therefore bought paper at a price of EUR 90.38 with a total value of EUR 2,494,511.63. There was no reason for this.
After the purchase became known, the share climbed upwards by more than five percent and was temporarily above EUR 94. That is the highest level since the end of April.
At that time, the report on the special audit by the auditing firm KPMG had caused the course to plummet. The auditors examined the balance sheets from 2016 to 2018 for seven months. No incriminating allegations were found, but many doubts remained.
The concerns on the stock market were subsequently greater than before. The stock lost more than a quarter of its value on the day the report was released in late April.
Wirecard boss Braun, who has been with the company for over two decades and is regarded as the strategic head there, has repeatedly used weaknesses in the share price in recent years for acquisitions. Most recently, however, he had held back heavily.
Braun’s power grows
When violent accusations of money laundering, fraud and falsification of the balance shook the company last year and caused the price to plummet, not a single order came from him. At this time, only CFO Alexander von Knoop and Jan Marsalek, who was responsible for organization, ordered six-figure papers.
Braun has now expanded its power in the company once more by buying shares. After the critical KPMG report, investors had recently called for his withdrawal. These included Ingo Speich, fund manager at Deka and Christopher Hohn from the London hedge fund TCI. With a net short position of 1.53 percent, Hohn holds one of the largest bets on a price drop at Wirecard.
It was only on Monday evening that the renewed postponement of the balance sheet presentation for the past year put pressure on the Wirecard share. For the third time, the presentation of the balance sheet has been moved to the fourth date, and now June 18 is planned.
The group cited the reason that all foreign auditors could now complete their audit procedures. In its entirety, however, the examination was not yet over. However, Wirecard emphasized that the Dax group expects an unrestricted attestation from the auditors.
The Annual General Meeting, which was originally scheduled to take place on July 2, was therefore postponed to August 26 and will be held via the Internet due to the corona crisis.
More: Opponents and supporters wrestle for no other Dax title as intensely as for Wirecard shares.
–
– .
