The majority owner of Tengelmann Holding is sued by his brother Georg.
(Photo: Tengelmann)
Dusseldorf The alliance did not last long: Georg Haub sued his brother and current Tengelmann boss Christian Haub. The district court of Munich confirmed this to the Handelsblatt. The dispute over the legacy of the former Tengelmann boss Karl-Erivan Haub, who has since been declared dead, is entering a new round.
After the disappearance of his brother Karl-Erivan in April 2018, Christian Haub took over management of the Tengelmann Group in the Swiss Alps. After years of dispute, he also took over the shares of his brother’s heirs last year. Since then he has owned almost 69 percent of Tengelmann, Georg Haub the remaining 31 percent.
The two remaining brothers only announced a partnership last September. “Our common goal is for Tengelmann to continue successfully as a family business now and in the next generation,” said Georg Haub at the time. But now he is demanding repayment of 800 million euros to Tengelmann Warenhandelsgesellschaft. The “Lebensmittelzeitung” had first reported on it.
The background to the lawsuit is therefore a shareholder resolution of December 2, 2021 to release reserves in the amount of 1.17 billion euros, which were transferred to the accounts of the shareholders. The plaintiff Georg Haub considers the decision to be invalid because a three-quarters majority would have been required for it. He also called an arbitral tribunal.
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The Tengelmann company, which has since moved its headquarters from Mülheim to Munich, did not want to comment on this. Tengelmann is one of the largest German family companies with currently 75,000 employees and most recently a turnover of 8.3 billion euros. The company includes the textile discounter Kik, the hardware store chain Obi, the real estate company Trei and shares in the Dax group Zalando and other start-ups.
The lawyer of Tengelmann boss Christian Haub, Mark Binz, refers to two legal opinions in the Handelsblatt. According to these, a two-thirds majority is sufficient for the resolution to release the reserves.
Georg Haub also seeks advice from experienced lawyers. In the past, the company lawyer Ulrich Korth from the law firm Morgan Lewis & Bockius and Professor Matthias Schüppen from Graf Kanitz Schüppen & Partner worked for him. Schüppen is considered an experienced litigator, both before ordinary courts and in arbitration proceedings. The lawyer declined to comment on the current dispute.
Conducting proceedings with a value in dispute of 800 million euros is expensive. Although the amount in dispute for the calculation of the court costs is capped at 30 million euros, Georg Haub also has to raise a large amount for this sum: it could be around 300,000 euros. The parallel arbitration proceedings also incur some costs.
More: “Tengelmann was the case of my life,” says Mark Binz.