With an annual turnover of more than 200 million euros and an operating margin of almost a third, Schufa is highly profitable.
(Photo: dpa)
Frankfurt According to financial circles, the German savings banks and cooperative banks want to secure a majority in the credit agency Schufa. In order to achieve this goal, both financial groups decided to increase their share from around 47 percent to over 50 percent, several people familiar with the topic told the Handelsblatt.
With their step, savings banks and cooperative banks want to prevent the investment company EQT from taking control of Schufa. In autumn, EQT agreed with the major French bank Société Générale to take over their ten percent stake in Schufa. The Wiesbadner credit agency was valued at more than two billion euros.
Savings banks and cooperative banks, as existing shareholders, have a right of first refusal for the participation of Société Générale and want to use this for at least part of the shares. According to financial circles, there are various ways in which the institutes can get the good three percent they need for a majority. Finally, various pools of banks are involved in the Schufa, for which there are different pre-emption rights with different deadlines. Those involved expect the transactions to be completed by the end of February.
However, EQT has apparently not given up hope and is in principle still interested in taking over a majority in the Schufa. The Swedish financial investor has therefore also registered its plans to acquire up to 100 percent of the shares and sole control of Schufa with the cartel office, as the Bonn authority announced on its website on Tuesday. EQT declined to comment.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
The neutrality of the Schufa should be secured
At the same time as EQT, the Nuremberg-based TeamBank AG, which belongs to the DZ-Bank Group, also registered its plans to “acquire a minority interest and have significant competitive influence in Schufa” with the Cartel Office.
Schufa is “a data supplier for TeamBank and the entire cooperative financial group of great strategic importance,” said a spokeswoman for TeamBank, which currently holds 7.9 percent of Schufa. It is in the interest of the existing shareholders to “obtain a stable majority” in order to be able to guarantee the neutrality of Schufa in the long term.
The German Savings Banks and Giro Association (DSGV) is still firmly committed to Schufa and supports the management’s previous strategy, said a DSGV spokesman. “We will examine all options that permanently secure the proven structures of the Schufa.”
The data on the creditworthiness of the customers, which the Schufa collects, is of great importance for the credit business of the savings banks and cooperative banks. The Schufa data is firmly integrated into the bank systems. The savings banks have 35 million and the cooperative banks 26 million private checking accounts.
While EQT aims to align Schufa internationally and make it a European platform, the savings banks and cooperative banks want to stick to the previous orientation. From the point of view of the financial institutions, it would be problematic, for example, if the Schufa made the customer data available to other companies, such as payment service providers.
More: Financial investor EQT joins Schufa.