(Bloomberg) -- DWS Group Chief Executive Officer Stefan Hoops is considering changing the firm’s legal structure as part of his effort to raise the appeal of the firm to a broader range of shareholders. 

One option for the CEO of Deutsche Bank AG’s asset-management arm is to switch the current setup, which curbs the influence of minority shareholders, into the German form equivalent to a UK Plc, people familiar with the matter said. It’s not clear whether Hoops plans to reference the considerations during a strategy update in two weeks, the people said asking not to be named discussing the private information.

Hoops is conducting a broad review of DWS ahead of the investor day on December 7 where he will lay out his vision for the asset manager six months after taking over as CEO amid allegations of greenwashing under his predecessor. The appeal of DWS to clients and investors is a key consideration and he has questioned the strength of the DWS brand in regions outside the German home market, Bloomberg has reported.

A spokesman for DWS declined to comment on the matter.

Read More: Deutsche Bank’s DWS CEO Questions Brand’s Pull Outside Germany

DWS’s current corporate setup, known as Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien, or KgaA, under German corporate law, is a form of limited partnership that also has elements of a corporation selling stock. DWS said in its IPO prospectus that the structure may result in a lower valuation for DWS because “many investors may be unfamiliar” with it.

Read More: DWS’s Kreuzkamp to Leave at Year-End as CEO Shakes Up Top

Investors value DWS at 7.8 times its most recent earnings, below Amundi SA’s multiple of 9.4 and Schroders Plc’s 13, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Deutsche Bank chose the current structure when it was preparing DWS for the public listing in early 2018, partly because it enables the lender, which currently owns about 80% in DWS, to sell its stake to below 50% without losing control. 

It also means that Deutsche Bank’s top executives -- rather than the DWS supervisory board -- get to make the most important decisions regarding the investment firm, including potential changes to the legal structure.

The firm could opt for the German Aktiengesellschaft, or AG, form, the people said. Such a move would hand some decision-making power back to DWS, and Hoops has previously said that his goal is to strengthen DWS’s independence from its parent.

Hoops was appointed chief executive of the lender’s spun-off asset manager in June after it was shaken by allegations -- denied by the firm -- that it overstated the ESG credentials of its funds. Former CEO Asoka Woehrmann resigned hours after a police raid into the claims, the culmination of months of controversy. 

Hoops has so far indicated that he’s likely to expand the firm’s offerings in private debt, digital assets and real estate finance and he’s kicked off a growth plan for the US and also plans to expand in Asia. At the same time, he has signaled he will reduce some under-performing products in effort to keep a lid on costs. 

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