Adler Chairman Signals Liquidation an Option for Embattled Firm

Jeff Black, Bloomberg News

Apartment blocks and residential property on the city skyline in this aerial photograph in Berlin, Germany, on Thursday, April 15, 2021. Germany's top court struck down Berlin's controversial five-year rent freeze and restrictions forcing landlords to reduce prices, saying the city lacked the power to impose the rules. Photographer: Liesa Johannssen-Koppitz/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- A strategy review under way at German real-estate firm Adler Group SA could result in a winding up of the company, according to Chairman Stefan Kirsten.

“The spectrum ranges from liquidating the company, i.e. breaking it up, to positioning it in a clean strategic niche,” Kirsten said, according to an interview published by Boersen-Zeitung on Thursday. “This strategy project is just being initiated,” he said.

Adler has been in turmoil over short sellers alleging fraud and inflated valuations, with the company’s auditor KPMG refusing to endorse its annual accounts. Accusations centered on the role and fees paid to Cevdet Caner, an Austrian financier who advised on the group’s formation. Caner’s family members are also shareholders in Adler.

Adler’s share price has slumped more than 80% since the allegations emerged last year.

Kirsten, brought in in February to rebuild confidence in the embattled company, said the lack of an auditor and an ongoing probe by German regulator BaFin are limiting its chances of recovery.

“Adler has a decent liquidity position,” Kirsten said. “Our largest shareholder Vonovia SE has said in no uncertain terms that the share price does not reflect the substance of the company.”