Hope in the bankruptcy proceedings: 77 interested parties for Wirecard's core business

At Wirecard, almost everything revolves around clearing up the criminal machinations of the former leadership. In the meantime, the insolvency administrator is trying to save at least parts of the company. Now he sends optimistic signals.

Wirecard insolvency administrator Michael Jaffé sees good chances for a sale of the core business with card payments despite the massive fraud allegations against the payment processor. 77 interested parties have already signed up for this, which should now look into the books in the next step, Jaffé said in an interim report. "We are confident that we will find an investor for the core business that offers significant entrepreneurial opportunities in a rapidly growing market."

However, many bidders only report at this stage to take a close look at the competition. The business with the issuing of credit cards and the settlement of online transactions (acquiring) had stabilized during the bankruptcy "despite the extremely difficult starting situation", said Jaffé. The liquidity was secured even without a bulk loan.

Wirecard AG and a handful of subsidiaries collapsed at the end of June after account balances of EUR 1.9 billion proved to be fake. The public prosecutor's office is investigating the former management of the DAX company headed by CEO Markus Braun, primarily because of gang fraud. Braun and two other ex-managers are in custody.

US business with good prospects

Jaffé tries to use the remnants of the company in favor of the creditors. The most advanced is the sale of the US pre-charged payment card business, which Wirecard acquired from Citigroup in 2016. 60 interested parties have signed confidentiality agreements that give them a look at the books. They "show considerable interest in acquiring the company, which operates independently and independently on the market," said Jaffe.

An insolvency administrator usually tries to find a buyer for the most important parts of the company by the time the procedure opens – which is expected at Wirecard in early September. Wirecard Bank, which was shielded by the BaFin financial regulator from Wirecard AG, is not part of the core business for sale. A separate sales process runs for them, but it is not in a hurry because the bank itself is not insolvent.

. (tagsToTranslate) Economy (t) Wirecard (t) Bankruptcy (t) Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (t) USA