FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Activist investor Teleios, which holds a 6% stake in Germany’s Aareal Bank, on Thursday called for the resignation of the lender’s chairman, according to a letter.
Aareal is reeling from a $2.1 billion buyout attempt that failed last week, and Teleios is one of the big investors that cheered the bid’s demise for undervaluing the company.
The letter, addressed to the supervisory board and signed by Adam Epstein of Teleios, marks the first detailed reaction by the investor, which has long called for changes at the German real-estate lender.
The letter said that the protagonists of the buyout deal, including chair Hermann Wagner, should “acknowledge their misjudgement and resign now”.
Teleios is the second big investor to call for Wagner’s resignation after Petrus Advisers did so last week.
A spokesperson for Aareal didn’t want to make an immediate comment.
(Reporting by Tom Sims; Editing by Riham Alkousaa and Maria Sheahan)
