Politics
airberlin: EU commission approves KfW credit of € 150 million
Investors, who did not buy the Air Berlin story with its unusual corporate governance structure made the better choice. In August, the company announced its filing for insolvency proceedings with the headline: “airberlin files for insolvency | German Government offers support”.
As it turned out, the government support did not mean the filing, but rather a transitional credit of € 150 million to be granted by KfW, which was approved by the EU Commission in September.
The credit shall facility the search for investors, who are invited to make an offer for the company or parts thereof until September 15th, 2017. Lufthansa looks perfectly positioned in this process.
Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, VW: How to destroy confidence
Recent weeks saw a constant flow of bad news for the German car manufacturers. Manipulation software, environmental problems, diesel bans in major cities, declining sales of diesel cars, recalls, and even criminal allegations created a climate of uncertainty with customers and shareholders. It looks like every solution found for one particular issue in this painful process was followed by several new bad news. The most recent severe topic are cartel allegations. According to newspaper articles, several car makers are believed to have disclosed on a voluntarily basis details of cartel activities to the relevant authorities.
At this point in time there has been no clear statement by any of the car makers confirming these reports, though. Nonetheless, investors are concerned as is clearly indicated by share prices. Hence, as a car manufacturer it is important these days that one can rely on strong and understanding friends. Following the announcement of VW´s recent quarterly results, Goldman Sachs left the preference shares on its “Conviction Buy List”. This decision is a clear statement. But it is also consequent, since preference shares carry only marginal governance rights. So one might argue it simply doesn`t matter, does it?