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.