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New details emerge in boardroom tiff at major German broker
16:42 08/05/2024
flatexDEGIRO AG
By Tom Sims
FRANKFURT, May 8 (Reuters) - New details emerged on Wednesday of a boardroom tussle at a leading online broker in Germany, with a document claiming that a significant group of shareholders had demanded a change of chief executive in November but this was initially ignored by the chairman.
Investors representing 35% of shares at the online broker, FlatexDegiro , wrote to the company's supervisory board in November asking it to replace CEO Frank Niehage.
But the request was ignored by the board's chairman and only acted on after repeated demands, the document, seen by Reuters, said.
The dispute is part of an unusually public boardroom strife in Germany, where power struggles are usually behind closed doors.
The document, an addendum to FlatexDegiro's shareholder meeting agenda, shows that the tensions at the broker have been simmering for longer than previously known, well before CEO Niehage suddenly resigned last month.
Now the focus of some investors is to oust chairman Martin Korbmacher. The document seen by Reuters has Korbmacher's initial stalling on the CEO issue as a reason to remove him at next month's shareholder meeting.
FlatexDegiro declined immediate comment.
The broker separately said its board would ask shareholders to reject the motion to remove Korbmacher.
Korbmacher did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He has previously declined to comment.
Bernd Foertsch, the broker's top investor and company founder, has been behind the push to oust the chair, telling Reuters earlier this week that he wanted a "fresh start" for the company.
A spokesperson for Foertsch confirmed the accuracy of the document but asked Reuters to make clear the spokesperson was not the source.
The document alleged that Korbmacher was in "blatant violation of the duty incumbent on the chairman ... to represent the interests of the company in the best possible way".
Foertsch is also seeking a board seat.
In a departing swipe, former CEO Niehage said Foertsch was trying get a supervisory board seat "through the back door, claiming to know better what's good for the firm", and called on shareholders to vote in favour of Korbmacher at their meeting.