Buyout or Expropriation?
A congress of the German bank Hypo Real Estate (HRE) has taken place on October 5, 2009. The state, currently holding 90% of the stocks, wants to take over the bank to rebuild it on its own. The Hypo Real Estate had the most problems in Germany due to the financial crisis. Therefore the state has offered a lot of financial help which should not be wasted now.
Investors fighting for their stocks
Many investors now say that this was illegal expropriation, because it is based on a special law for this case. It was passed in February to take over HRE in the financial crisis. Normally small investors may only be dropped when 95% of the investors agree, but in this case 90% are enough (due to the special law). Investors owning 94.73% of the capital have agreed and therefore the rest now has to sell the stocks for 1.30€ per stock having bought them for more than 40€ sometimes.
Investors came to the congress with signs to demonstrate against the intervention of the state. They want to have at least a right to rebuy their stocks if the share price will rise again. Their hope are suits at court, if needed up to the European Court of Justice.
Legal notice
The image Money Grab was taken by Steve Wampler.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
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