Germany's Adler rejects allegations made by Viceroy as shares tumble (updated)
06/10/2021 17:34
(Adds context, shares)
BERLIN, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Germany's Adler Group SA ADJ.DE
said on Wednesday it strongly rejected allegations made in a
report published by short seller Fraser Perring's Viceroy
Research, which sent its shares down as much as a third earlier.
Viceroy Research, in a report published on Oct. 6, said
Adler Group's "balance sheet has been artificially inflated to a
significant degree, its shares are not investible", causing the
group's shares to tumble. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2R232E
"This is evidently false," said Adler in a statement.
"The real estate value set forth in Adler's balance sheet
has been determined by independent market leading real estate
property appraisers and confirmed independently by financing
banks," it added.
The company, which is listed on Germany's smallcap index
SDAX .SDAXI , said it was currently preparing a detailed
response to the allegations and would comment on them shortly.
Shares in Adler closed 26% lower.
Rumours about a short-seller attack targeting Adler first
surfaced in June and came after Viceroy Research issued a
critical report on German financial services firm Grenke
GLJn.DE last year. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2GC4WT urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2KG20X
(Reporting by Matthias Inverardi and Danilo Masoni; Writing by
Madeline Chambers and Christoph Steitz; Editing by Elaine
Hardcastle)
((Madeline.Chambers@thomsonreuters.com; +4930220133578;))