Amsterdam-based activist investor Ardan Livvey on Monday notified the German financial market regulator BaFin, and engine maker Deutz AG, that it is has accumulated a total of 5% of the voting rights in the shares of the company to become a ‘Top Three’ investor.
Under German equity market rules, attaining the 5% threshold allows investors to place motions to be voted upon before all shareholders and the executive boards of companies. Ardan Livvey now intends to set in motion a vote of no confidence in the senior management of Deutz, due to their persistent failure to address the underperformance of the company versus its sectoral peers.
André Cabral, Senior Analyst at Ardan Livvey, said: “Ardan Livvey’s view remains that Deutz management’s priorities are absolutely misaligned with shareholder’s best interests and poor execution has been one of the major issues behind the company’s underperformance versus peers. As we’ve previously highlighted on multiple occasions, there appears to be no clear well-structured corporate strategy in place that has profitability as its overarching goal. This does not bode well for the road ahead. Deutz’s current management has struggled to adapt to fast-changing circumstances and the situation has not evolved in our opinion. We therefore intend to set in motion a vote of no confidence to formally, and openly, express our discontent with the status quo and to demand that the company’s management urgently addresses these issues and finally delivers consistent shareholder value.”
