Schufa was founded in 1927 as a “protection group for general loan security”.
(Photo: dpa)
Frankfurt The German cooperative banks are considering taking over further shares in the credit agency Schufa. “For us, the Schufa is a strategically relevant investment and that’s how we deal with it,” said Marija Kolak, President of the Federal Association of German Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken (BVR), the Handelsblatt.
“That’s why we always take a look when holdings change and can basically imagine increasing our shares further,” explained Kolak. The cooperative banks and the savings banks have recently increased their holdings in Schufa to almost 55 percent, they each hold about the same number of shares. In doing so, they prevented the Swedish financial investor EQT from securing a majority in Schufa as planned.
However, EQT is not giving up and is now trying to build a significant minority stake in Schufa. According to insiders, the financial investor has been negotiating for some time about buying the Schufa stake from Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank. Both together hold 18.6 percent of the Wiesbaden-based company.
According to people familiar with the discussions, EQT has already largely reached an agreement with Deutsche Bank. Discussions are still ongoing with Commerzbank, but are on the right track. However, it could still take some time before a possible deal is signed and implemented, since existing Schufa shareholders have a right of first refusal.
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The cooperative banks could therefore take over further shares in Schufa and thus ensure that EQT’s participation remains as small as possible. EQT, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank declined to comment on the matter. The BVR confirmed that the cooperative financial group again had a right of first refusal.
How many shares can EQT secure?
The Schufa is of great importance for consumers, banks and trade. If someone in Germany wants to conclude a loan agreement, buy a car or rent an apartment, banks, retailers or landlords usually do a credit check with the credit agency, which was founded in 1927 as the “protection group for general loan security”.
In autumn 2021, EQT had agreed with the major French bank Société Générale to take over their ten percent stake in Schufa. In addition, the Swedes wanted to buy more shares from other institutes. The value of the Schufa was estimated at around two billion euros.
However, savings banks and cooperative banks thwarted EQT’s plans and were already using their pre-emption rights at the time. EQT was therefore only able to take over part of the Société Générale package.
With the shares of Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and other institutions willing to sell, the Swedes could now increase their stake to more than 20 percent. Those involved currently consider it unlikely that EQT will have more than 25 percent and thus have a blocking minority.
The BVR explained: “We will evaluate the situation when the time comes.” The German Savings Banks and Giro Association did not want to comment on this or on a possible further increase in the Schufa shares.
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