The fight for control of Axel Springer Verlag, Europe's largest newspaper company, took a bizarre turn yesterday when Deutsche Bank sold and immediately bought back its 40 per cent stake in the company.
The stake was used as collateral for loans worth €720 million taken out by the bankrupt media group Kirch Media. When Kirch defaulted on the loans, Deutsche Bank seized the shares.
Yesterday, the bank tried to auction off the shareholding, which has a current value of €667.3 million. But when it found no takers, it bought the holding itself to sell again later.
The bank intends to sell around 10 per cent of the shares to Ms Friede Springer, the widow of company founder Axel Springer and the company's largest shareholder. The sale would give her a 60 per cent share in the company, publisher of Germany's best-selling newspaper, Bild.
Yesterday's auction brings to an end an unhappy 20-year marriage between Springer and Mr Leo Kirch, who secretly bought into the company.
The animosity between Springer and Mr Kirch came to a head last January when Springer called in a €767 million loan to Mr Kirch, sparking the financial crisis that brought down Kirch Media. Mr Kirch sought to exact revenge by trying to sell the Springer stake to a rival newspaper company, but without success.
Deutsche Bank will try to find a buyer for the remaining 30 per cent stake on offer. One interested buyer is the Swiss publishing house, Ringier, publisher of tabloid newspaper Blick.
