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VIPsight

Corporate Governance – portrayed in the individual cultural and legal framework, from the standpoint of equity capital.

VIPsight is a dynamic photo archive, sorted by nations and dates, by and for those interested in CG from all over the world.

VIPsight offers, every month:
transparent and independent current information / comments / facts and figures on corporate governance locally and internationally,

  • written by local CG experts,
  • selected and structured by the Club of Florence,
  • financed by its initiator VIP and other sponsors with a background of “Equity and Advisory” interests.
     

VIPsight International


Article Index

 

 

Capital News

 

Pro Sieben Sat 1 in the top division

The TV conglomerate Pro Sieben Sat 1 has crowned its growth story by entering the benchmark Dax index, in the process becoming the first German media company to play in the same league as Siemens, BMW, Volkswagen and Deutsche Post. Thanks to its increased stock market value Pro Sieben Sat 1 replaced the fertiliser producer K+S.

With a value of almost EUR ten billion the TV broadcaster is now more expensive than the traditional groups Lufthansa, Thyssen-Krupp and RWE. "We see our rise as a reward for our work in recent years and as an incentive to continue to successfully pursue our diversified growth strategy moving forward," explained CEO Thomas Ebeling after the decision was announced. In addition to its traditional TV business, Ebeling is driving the expansion of Pro Sieben Sat 1. online and in TV productions with the aim of achieving significant future growth in its revenues - which totalled €3.3 billion in 2015 - and profit.

 

Two new additions to the TecDAX

Deutsche Börse has made two changes to its TecDAX index of leading technology sector shares. The metal-based 3D printing manufacturer SLM Solutions and the semiconductor industry equipment supplier Süss MicroTec will replace the Cologne-based IT service provider QSC and the electronics specialist LPKF this spring.

 

ADIDAS forges ahead

ADIDAS posted record sales and profit in 2015. Sales rose by 16 per cent to EUR 16.9 billion while profit advanced by 12 per cent to EUR 720 million. Shareholders will receive a dividend of EUR 1.60 per share, an increase of ten cents compared with 2015.

 

BMW revs up

BMW sold a record number of around 2.2 million cars in 2015. Group revenues advanced almost 15% to EUR 92.2 billion and profit before tax climbed almost 6 per cent to EUR 9.2 billion. The Bavaria-based carmaker reported a 10 per cent year-on-year rise in group net profit to EUR 6.4 billion.

 

More shareholders in Germany

Over nine million people in Germany possessed shares and/or units in equity funds last year. This is the highest figure since 2012. The year-on-year increase was 6.7% or 560,000 people.
Among under 40s the increase in the number of shareholders stood at 170,000, an even greater 10% increase.

 

Supervisory boards: term of office too short

The average term of office of supervisory board members on the DAX index is 5.9 years (MDAX 5 years). Very few boards have very high average terms of office, which could indicate a limited self-renewal capacity. The current terms of office of supervisory board members are mainly significantly lower than the EU recommendation of 15 years, which means that the limited capacity for self renewal of supervisory boards that the Corporate Governance Commission is seeking to address in fact only exists in isolated cases. This is the finding of a current study by the FOM University of Applied Sciences for Economics and Management. For the study the current terms of office of all supervisory board members of companies listed on Germany's benchmark DAX and MDAX indices were investigated by Prof. Dr. Peter Ruhwedel, a leading authority on corporate governance.


The average term of office of a supervisory board member of a DAX-listed company is 7.7 years (MDAX 7.2 years). "Longer terms of office are appropriate considering the high demands on supervisory board and audit committee chairs and the necessary period of vocational adjustment," says Professor Peter Ruhwedel. "In my view mechanistic rules that do not take into account company-specific conditions are not effective."

 

Wilex AG: Fresh money

Increases in capital keep Wilex on course in its financing strategy announced in November 2015.

The stage launched at the beginning of April provides for an increase in share capital of up to 2,248,272.00 Euros from authorised capital to bring the total up to 12,927,564.99 Euros, through the issue of up to 2,248,272 new no par value bearer shares in return for cash contributions. The new shares will be offered exclusively to existing shareholders at a 19:4 ratio by means of an indirect subscription right. Hence, shareholders will be entitled to subscribe for 4 new shares for each 19 existing shares held. The subscription period began on 8 April 2016 and will end on 22 April 2016 at 4:00 pm. The subscription price is fixed at EUR 1.84. There will be no organised trading in subscription rights. The subscription offer was published in the Federal Gazette on 7 April 2016.

New unsubscribed shares can be offered by the principal shareholder  dievini Hopp BioTech holding GmbH & Co. KG of Walldorf as part of a private placement, provided the price does not exceed 1.84 Euros per share. The company has stated its willingness to take up the new unsold shares as part of the subscription offers and additional subscription. Integration of the new shares is set for 29 April 2016.

WILEX AG announced that it intended to use the net proceeds expected from the transaction of some 4.13 million Euros to pay for broadening the portfolio in such areas as continuing development of the proprietary antibody-drug-conjugate technology platform, creating a pipeline of ADC products to combat tumour related diseases, and evaluating clients’ specific research requests.

 

MPC Capital: base capital base bolstered

In March, MPC Capital AG’s gross proceeds from the sale of  2,212,939 new shares to institutional investors priced at 5.70 Euros each amounted to 12.6 million Euros. Shareholder option rights were excluded. MPC Capital AG’s share capital stands at 24,342,333.00 Euros.  The new shares should be included in the 24 March 2016 trading session. The MPC Capital AG group announced its intention to fund the expected growth such as co-investing in alternative assets which are already present in today’s planning pipeline.

 

Biofrontera AG: fresh money for expansion in the USA

As part of an increase in capital, Biofrontera AG succeeded in its attempt to raise some 4.9 million Euros  from institutional investors. Approximately 2.5 million shares were issued at 2.0 Euros each. The company announced that the share capital was oversubscribed three-fold. According to a communiqué, these new resources will be put to use to fund current business and create and sell products that combat Ameluz skin cancers in the USA.  The Leverkusen-based concern expects to get the green light to proceed with sales to the world’s biggest pharmaceutical market by mid-May 2016.