Deutsche Bank 'to pay €800 mln' in Kirch case
Deutsche Bank will pay €800 million to the heirs of a media mogul whose empire collapsed after the bank’s CEO said investors were not willing to lend him any more money, the German media reported on Monday.
Leo Kirch died last year, nearly a decade after the collapse of his media empire which at one point included 40 percent of the huge Axel Springer publishing house and the majority shares of ProSiebenSat.1 as well as the rights to the Bundesliga's football matches, Formula One, two football world cups and a range of film holdings.
Kirch sued the bank for more than €3 billion in compensation, saying the then Deutsche Bank CEO Ralf Breuer had “shot” him in 2002.
Breuer told an interviewer that year that as far as he had heard and read, the financial sector was no longer ready to keep making as much money available to Kirch as it had in the past.
“The interview slaughtered me,” Kirch said once. A court suggested that the two sides settle for €775 million, but Deutsche Bank rejected the idea.
People involved in the negotiations told a number of journalists on Monday that Deutsche Bank and lawyers representing Kirch’s heirs had agreed on a payment of €800 million.
Manager Magazin reported on Monday that the Deutsche Bank board would have to confirm the payment on Monday or Tuesday. The bank has previously said it did not have any money earmarked for such a payment.
DAPD/The Local/hc
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Leo Kirch died last year, nearly a decade after the collapse of his media empire which at one point included 40 percent of the huge Axel Springer publishing house and the majority shares of ProSiebenSat.1 as well as the rights to the Bundesliga's football matches, Formula One, two football world cups and a range of film holdings.
Kirch sued the bank for more than €3 billion in compensation, saying the then Deutsche Bank CEO Ralf Breuer had “shot” him in 2002.
Breuer told an interviewer that year that as far as he had heard and read, the financial sector was no longer ready to keep making as much money available to Kirch as it had in the past.
“The interview slaughtered me,” Kirch said once. A court suggested that the two sides settle for €775 million, but Deutsche Bank rejected the idea.
People involved in the negotiations told a number of journalists on Monday that Deutsche Bank and lawyers representing Kirch’s heirs had agreed on a payment of €800 million.
Manager Magazin reported on Monday that the Deutsche Bank board would have to confirm the payment on Monday or Tuesday. The bank has previously said it did not have any money earmarked for such a payment.
DAPD/The Local/hc
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