Former DWS boss Asoka Wöhrmann will take over as chief govt of struggling German property funding group Patrizia lower than a yr after he was ousted as head of Deutsche Financial institution’s asset supervisor following a greenwashing scandal.
Listed on the Frankfurt inventory alternate, Patrizia has €59bn of property underneath administration and a market capitalisation of €850mn.
Wöhrmann has joined the corporate as CEO-elect and can exchange founder and chief govt Wolfgang Egger “to guide the subsequent progress section” of the corporate.
Egger praised Wöhrmann’s “complete worldwide management expertise, in-depth information of monetary markets and the worldwide asset administration business in addition to a broad worldwide consumer community”.
Rising rates of interest and a sudden slowdown in Germany’s property market capped Patrizia’s long-running ascent final yr.
Pre-tax earnings fell by 76 per cent to €20.8mn in contrast with 2021 as Germany’s property increase hit a wall. Its shares are down 40 per cent over the previous yr and dropped one other 1 per cent in morning buying and selling in Frankfurt on Tuesday.
Based in 1984 as a property investor, Patrizia over the previous two years moved into infrastructure funding and personal fairness by buying London-based Whitehelm Capital and Copenhagen-based Benefit, with property underneath administration rising by 22 per cent final yr.
Since 2017, it has elevated its dividend by a 3rd to €0.33 a share.
Wöhrmann introduced his resignation at DWS, which has €841bn of property underneath administration, final June after the corporate was raided by police in a greenwashing scandal.
The raid adopted allegations by DWS’s former ESG head Desiree Fixler, who accused the group of overstating its inexperienced credentials.
The allegations triggered investigations by US regulators, German monetary watchdog BaFin and Frankfurt felony prosecutors.
Wöhrmann’s successor at DWS, former Deutsche Financial institution supervisor Stefan Hoops, later acknowledged that the asset supervisor’s earlier communication on ESG might need been too bullish.
“You’ll not hear me use phrases like ‘chief’ or ‘world class’,” Hoops instructed journalists in December.
Wöhrmann was additionally dealing with questions for utilizing a personal e mail account for enterprise functions throughout his time as a senior Deutsche Financial institution supervisor.
Germany’s largest lender had additionally alerted the nation’s monetary crime watchdog to a €160,000 fee made by a consumer to Wöhrmann in 2018, which was later defined as a part of a failed try to purchase a Porsche.
Wöhrmann was formally on DWS’s payroll till the top of January 2023 and acquired a payout of €13.7mn following his resignation final June.
DWS highlighted in its annual report that the severance package deal was topic to the “risk of clawback”.
Karl von Rohr, Deutsche Financial institution’s deputy chief govt in control of DWS, will go away the lender in October when his present time period on the manager board ends.
Union Funding, which holds a 5 per cent stake in Patrizia, declined to touch upon Wöhrmann’s appointment.
