Baden-Baden, September 28, 2020: grenke AG, a global financing partner for small and medium-sized enterprises, welcomes the start of the special audit according to Section 44 of the Banking Act (KWG) by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). On the instructions of BaFin, the internationally active auditing and consultancy firm Mazars has started the investigation today.

Antje Leminsky, Chair of the Board of Directors of grenke AG, says: “We have assured full transparency and, of course, full cooperation with the regulators right from the beginning. It is in the interest of grenke AG, its employees, business partners and investors that the unsubstantiated accusations that have been made are quickly cleared up. The investigation will further contribute to this.”

grenke faces unjustified accusations of a short-seller and has already firmly countered against these. In addition, the company has also commissioned two independent external audit reports: KPMG was already commissioned on September 28 to conduct a special audit, which in particular reviews the substance of the business. In addition, the independent auditing firm Warth & Klein Grant Thornton was mandated on September 24 to examine the market conformity of the franchise acquisitions of the past and their advantageousness for grenke AG.