The court-appointed administrator guiding Wirecard AG’s insolvency said dozens of investors have emerged to buy what’s left of the Munich-based payments company, Reuters reported.
“The aim is to find timely investor solutions in the interest of creditors, employees and customers,” Michael Jaffe said in a statement following a creditors meeting.
He said more than 100 investors have expressed interest in buying the collapsed German payments firm’s core business and holdings.
Wirecard filed for insolvency two weeks ago after a pair of deposits totaling US$2.1 billion never made it into two Philippines banks.
Jaffe said sale processes are underway for other international holdings as well as Wirecard’s core business, the news service reported. The administrator said most of the firm’s customers were “being constructive” and interested in a speedy sale process.
Due diligence is expected to begin shortly, in virtual data rooms, Jaffe added.
A source told Reuters that Jaffe was likely to raise only about €400 million to €500 million (US$452 million to US$567 million). That’s only 10 percent of the total creditors are owed, the report said.
On Sunday, July 5, a report from KPMG, the Netherlands-based global accounting firm, revealed while the rest of the company’s divisions were portrayed as highly profitable, that now appears to have been just a show.
On Monday, Wirecard executive Oliver Bellenhaus, 46, was arrested in Munich for his alleged central role in the massive worldwide fraud case enveloping the company.
In June, ex-Wirecard CEO Markus Braun was arrested after a judge issued a warrant as prosecutors investigated the accounting scandal. The 51-year-old executive faces charges of accounting fraud and market manipulation designed to artificially inflate the financial technology company’s balance sheet. He has denied the allegations.
Last week, Deutsche Bank, the Frankfurt-based multinational financial services company, announced it was in talks with regulators to rescue Wirecard Bank, the deposit-taking division of the payment company.
But on Tuesday, Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing said it was too early to say how it might help Wirecard Bank, adding that its own exposure to the Wirecard fraud was very limited.
“We all now need transparency and that’s the first task,” Sewing told a webcast event organized by Bloomberg News.
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