Infomatec

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Infomatec Integrated Information Systems AG was a German software and diversified IT service provider based in Augsburg . In May 2001 the company, which is listed on the Neuer Markt, filed for bankruptcy after a series of fraudulent ad hoc reports and then went bankrupt.

Company history

The company was founded in 1988 by Alexander Häfele and Gerhard Harlos. Mainly corporate customers were served with software solutions and IT support . In contrast, sales via the Internet played a very subordinate role. Like many other companies, Infomatec went public for growth. Since there was money to be made with the Internet (support) in particular, the two founders and board members stepped up their activities in this direction at the end of the 1990s and promoted the sale of set-top boxes with which an ordinary, non-Internet-enabled television set (no smart TV ) to surf the Internet. This strategy was so successful that the Düsseldorf-based WestLB brought the company to the Neuer Markt in 1998. Although there were very different reports on the company valuation, an issue price of DM 53 per share was set.

After a cautious start, Infomatec AG ultimately went uphill. The issue value of the share has meanwhile increased tenfold. The company advanced to become the second most successful new issue of 1998 with a market capitalization of the equivalent of 1.5 billion euros in May 1999. At the annual general meetings, it was already a global player . Then a downward trend set in, which halved the market value in the same year. This trend could be stopped, because the company announced in an ad hoc announcement on May 20, 1999 and repeated on September 13, 1999 that a 55 million DM order from Mobilcom for 100,000 set-top boxes had been submitted Land had been pulled. That was not true. The next ad hoc announcement followed immediately. Another DM 55 million order was received from the Pforzheim-based company Global Well , which could be confirmed. Barely two months later, another ad hoc announcement was made: A French company had placed an order for 50 million DM. In the meantime, the company's share price rose significantly.

In fact, instead of 100,000, only 14,000 boxes were ordered from Mobilcom. The other two reports turned out to be untrue. The boxes supplied didn't even survive the test phase. It also became known that the company directors Harlos and Häfele had sold shares in their company. It later turned out that they had sold due to the fake success reports, each worth almost 15 million euros. In the end, the board of directors announced one final ad hoc announcement that revealed the whole disaster because it came closest to the truth. Instead of the previous sales forecast of 90 to 100 million DM, one of just over 50 million was made. At the same time, management admitted that the statements made so far had been significantly exaggerated. The shares now mutated into penny stocks ( gambling papers ), Infomatec slid into bankruptcy and the company founders resigned from their offices. She was accused of insider trading and scalping . Sales of 21.6 million DM contrasted with annual deficits of 100 million DM in 2000. The West-LB and one of the appraisers, the HHP , were also targeted by criminal investigations.

At that time, Infomatec was the main and shirt sponsor of FC Augsburg . The club played in the third-tier Regionalliga Süd. Since the association had been guaranteed a guarantee of 3 million DM, which subsequently failed, its license was revoked in 2000. A forced relegation followed.

Ten years after filing for bankruptcy, the company was not completely wound up. There will be no final distribution due to lack of mass . Due to insufficient mass, the liabilities that exceed the distribution mass by almost three times will be corrected in accordance with § 209 InsO. Deletion from the commercial register and delisting were only a matter of time in 2012. The Infomatec share has not been listed since April 7, 2013 .

Criminal trial

In November 2000, Häfele and Harlos were arrested. They were accused of creating factualities out of mere business hopes. Initially, they were also accused of having committed fraudulent entry into fraud because they could never have hidden the fact that the company value of 207 million euros (base value for the issue price of the share) was completely excessive compared to the actual 5 million euros. However, this charge was dropped. In November 2003 the Augsburg Regional Court sentenced both board members to fines and imprisonment for deliberately misinforming investors and for insider trading, in accordance with Section 400 of the German Stock Corporation Act. Harlos received by partial confession a prison sentence of two years on probation and a fine of 9,000 euros and an order for payment of 3000 euros to a charitable organization . His fortune fell to the state. On May 4, 2004, Häfele received a prison sentence of 2 years and 9 months.

Civil litigation

In September 2001 an Augsburg court sentenced the two company founders to pay 90,000 DM (116,000 euros) to a small investor . Due to the positive ad-hoc announcements from Infomatec, the latter had stocked up on their shares. A judgment of this magnitude in favor of a retail investor was a novelty. A confirmation was given by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) on July 19, 2004. It recognized that the founding members were personally liable, derived from deliberate and immoral damage in accordance with Section 826 of the German Civil Code (BGB). In this precedent, the BGH had to comment for the first time on the prerequisites for organ liability via §§ 826, § 31 BGB (in the case of ad hoc notifications). In July 2004, he decided that the two board members of Infomatec the shareholders of the Company by a knowingly false Ad hoc announcement with inflated information on new orders from customers deceived had and therefore had to pay damages.

Trivia

The world drew its conclusion: Infomatec has

"Set new standards of horror."

See also

literature

  • Klaus Schmeh: The 55 biggest flops in economic history. Redline Wirtschaft, Ueberreuter, Frankfurt / Vienna, ISBN 3-8323-0864-4 .
  • Richard Wichmann: Liability on the secondary market for misinformation-related investor damage. A de lege lata contribution to strengthening Germany as a capital market location. Comparative law and economic analysis. (= Publications on corporate and capital market law. Volume 39). Mohr Siebeck, 2017, ISBN 978-3-16-155032-4 , p. 96 ff.
  • Edelmann, in: Operations Consultants . 2004, pp. 2031-2033.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Klaus Schmeh: The 55 biggest flops in economic history. Frankfurt / Vienna, Redline Wirtschaft, Ueberreuter, ISBN 3-8323-0864-4 , pp. 242–245.
  2. ↑ Volker H. Peemöller, Stefan Hofmann: Accounting scandals, offenses and countermeasures. 2005, p. 106 f. (books.google.nl)
  3. ^ Handbook on German and European banking law, pp. 2100f.
  4. ↑ Horst Eckert , Werner Klinger: Augsburg football history. Verlagsgemeinschaft Augsbuch , Augsburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-938332-08-5 , pp. 119, 122.
  5. ↑ INFOMATEC Integrated Information Systems AG (DE0006222003) - The final directory is stored at the office of the Augsburg District Court - Insolvency Court - reference number: 1 IN 324/01. Augsburg, December 7, 2011
  6. ↑ Infomatec founder sentenced (süddeutsche.de)
  7. ↑ Infomatec process: Ex-board member sentenced to prison
  8. ↑ Infomatec verdict "Crazy, now I'll get my money back"
  9. ^ Petra Buck-Heeb, Capital Markets Law
  10. ↑ BGH, judgment of July 19, 2004, Az .: II ZR 218/03 = BGHZ 160, 134.
  11. ↑ Infomatec disaster on the Neuer Markt. In: The world. August 31, 2000, accessed March 6, 2014.