Frankfurt, Dusseldorf The real estate group Adler Group has a new chairman for the board of directors. On Wednesday morning, the company announced that Stefan Kirsten had been appointed as a new member of the board and at the same time elected its chairman.
In a telephone conference in front of journalists, he introduced himself a few hours later – and it became very clear right away: Adler first had to win back the confidence of the markets, he emphasized. The group faces challenges that it can help with, both in terms of investor confidence and issues such as leverage.
In 2017, Finance magazine named him “CFO of the Year”. Before joining Vonovia, Kirsten was CFO at Metro and Thyssen-Krupp.
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After leaving Vonovia, Kirsten held a number of positions, but had largely disappeared from public view. He didn’t miss the limelight, he now says, but the task at Adler appealed to him.
Read here: Adler short seller has to change information in the Viceroy report
Since October, Adler has been confronted with accusations from short seller Fraser Perring. He accuses the company of fraud, manipulation and deception – allegations that Adler denies. So far, however, it has not been possible to definitively refute the allegations. Most recently, Adler even had to postpone the annual financial statements because a specially initiated special investigation was delayed.
Adler is “a difficult case,” Kirsten now said, but from his “outsider’s perspective so far, it’s certainly not a hopeless case.” According to his own statements, he was looking at the company when Perring spoke for the first time last autumn.
Especially in the focus of the 61-page report on the website of his analysis company Viceroy Research: questionable transactions around Adler. The Adler share collapsed as a result – and has hardly recovered since then.
“The elephant in the room is called Wirecard”
At that time, Kirsten said he formed an opinion – and then “backed it with money”: he bought 50,000 shares at an average of 10.30 euros in several transactions, he said. “The company will consolidate, will stabilize,” predicts Kirsten. Adler is a company “that will simply go its own way as a portfolio holder and developer”.
According to Kirsten, the group has recently taken some positive steps, but has not communicated well. The Berliners had sold part of the housing portfolio, including around 15,400 apartments in northern Germany to LEG Immobilien. This reduced the debt.
But Kirsten emphasized that Adler first had to regain the confidence of the markets. “The elephant in the room is called Wirecard,” he said. The insolvent payment service provider has cost Germany as a financial center and the local companies a lot of credibility. “We have to fight against this fact.”
However, he rejected accusations that Adler was not transparent in view of a company structure with connections to Luxembourg: This is not unusual in the industry, he emphasized. However, it is obvious that Adler is a difficult case: If a share “falls down with such speed, you don’t have to be smart to think it’s a difficult case”.
He could not yet say anything substantial about the allegations and the ongoing investigations or when the postponed annual report will be published. He had only been ordered a few hours ago and had to get used to it first. In doing so, he wanted to act “independently, thoroughly, with an open mind” and openly communicate what was going on. The previous Chairman of the Board of Directors, Peter Maser, was elected Deputy Chairman.
Kirsten is sure to have the support of an important Adler shareholder: The businessman Cevdet Caner, who is said to pull the strings at Adler from behind the scenes and whose wife Gerda, with 7.44 percent of Adler shares, is one of the largest shareholders, have him already sent an SMS and congratulations, Kirsten said.
Insiders who have known the Berliner well for a long time see him well suited for the post. As an experienced CFO, he brings a great deal of knowledge with him and “doesn’t let A for B fool him when it comes to financial matters”. In addition, the word compromise is not one that he considers relevant.
On the stock exchange, the share listed in the SDax rose by more than seven percent to EUR 11.10 on Wednesday. A year ago, however, the paper had cost over 27 euros.
More: Postponed financial statements – Adler Group appeased. Investors’ nerves are on edge.