Hamburg new corporate form
Members give the HSV management a nasty surprise
As of: 4:43 p.m. | Reading time: 3 minutes
Hamburg’s supervisory board chairman Michael Papenfuß in conversation with a club member
Quelle: picture alliance/dpa
The change in HSV’s legal form was only half successful. The Fußball AG becomes a Fußball AG & Co. KGaA. The members blocked the request to sell more than 50 percent. But Kühne millions can be incorporated.
Ten years after professional football was spun off from Hamburger SV, the members of the traditional Hanseatic club have decided to change the legal form of the department. Nevertheless, there was a nasty surprise for the reform planners around Supervisory Board Chairman Michael Papenfuß on Saturday at the second division club’s extraordinary meeting.
Initially, the slightly more than 440 members present approved the change from HSV Fußball AG to HSV Fußball AG & Co. KGaA (limited partnership with shares) with the necessary three-quarters majority.
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However, the second application failed because of the 75 percent hurdle: those responsible for HSV sought to sell up to 50 percent of the shares in the limited partnership. They were denied that. Of the 443 members entitled to vote, only 272 people, or 62.24 percent, were in favor. Hamburger SV has a total of 109,000 members.
“Of course we didn’t like that. But that’s democracy,” said Papenfuß. “We also ask ourselves what we could have done better in educating and answering these issues. To do this we have to look for the exchange again. We are looking forward.” Nevertheless, he was not entirely dissatisfied: “We have got the ball rolling.”
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Due to this result, the club cannot generate any further money from new partners for the time being. However, this was the declared intention of the project, in addition to strengthening member rights. The failure also means that the planned Supporters Trust will not happen for the time being. Fans and members should be able to participate in the limited partnership through the trust. However, according to the current status, no shares are free.
After all, the approval of the first application paved the way for billionaire Klaus-Michael Kühne’s loan of 30 million euros from last year to be converted into shares in the KG. The 86-year-old’s holding company now owns 21 percent of KGaA. HSV has a 68.4 percent stake, the rest is distributed among the other shareholders in the AG.
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In the previous HSV Fußball AG, the club’s share was 75.1 percent of the share capital. The largest shares of the remaining 24.9 percent were held by Kühne Holding (previously 13.53 percent) and HanseMerkur Holding (previously 6.76 percent). Until now, more than 24.9 percent could not be sold without changing the statutes.
After the acceptance of proposal one, the next step of the reform thinkers is to found a management company that, as is currently the case, will manage the operational professional business through the board of directors with Jonas Boldt (sport) and Eric Huwer (finance). It will be 100 percent owned by the club and therefore under its control. Shares may not be sold. The aim is to prevent the influence of investors.
