Raue successfully represented DEVK in the proceedings concerning the failure of Deutsche Bank to make a mandatory offer in connection with the acquisition of Postbank by Deutsche Bank. The judgment was handed down by the 13th Civil Senate of the Cologne Higher Regional Court on 23 October (Case No. 13 U 231/17). On remand from the Federal Court of Justice, the court upheld the claims of former Postbank shareholders against Deutsche Bank in their entirety.
According to the judgment, Deutsche Bank should have made a mandatory offer to the plaintiffs immediately after the conclusion of the agreements with Deutsche Post on the acquisition of Postbank in 2008, as it had already acquired control of Postbank at that time. Deutsche Bank had always taken the position that it only acquired control later – after the outbreak of the financial crisis and the corresponding fall in the share price – and only made a voluntary takeover offer to the independent shareholders in October 2010 at a price of EUR 25 per share. The plaintiffs, who had accepted this offer, now claimed payment of the difference between this amount and the price at which Deutsche Bank had acquired the controlling block of shares from Deutsche Post in 2008 (EUR 57.25).
The Regional Court of Cologne had upheld the claim of DEVK, which had been represented by Raue since the beginning of the proceedings, in a judgment dated 20 October 2017, after claims in parallel proceedings had previously failed in the first instance. On appeal by Deutsche Bank, the Cologne Higher Regional Court overturned the Cologne Regional Court’s decision in a judgment dated 16 December 2020. On appeal by DEVK, the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof), in its judgment of 13 December 2022, overturned this appellate decision and referred the dispute back to the Cologne Higher Regional Court for a new hearing. This court has now dismissed Deutsche Bank’s appeal. The Senate has not granted leave to appeal. The defendant may lodge an appeal against this decision with the Federal Court of Justice within one month of service of the judgment.
This case is of great economic importance and demonstrates the close cooperation between capital markets and litigation experts.
(24 October 2024)