The struggle to reach a compromise to save Varta continues.

Varta's majority shareholder Michael Tojner is pushing a restructuring proposal for the troubled battery maker and is taking the former management board to court. The Austrian investor told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Thursday edition) that the roughly 100 million euros Varta needs will come partly from him, partly from banks and partly from Porsche AG.

“But we will also undertake to subscribe for additional funds if necessary for the restructuring.” Tojner owns about 50 percent of Varta through his Swiss holding company Montana Tech. His shares will also become worthless under the planned capital reduction, but he will be the only shareholder who will be able to reinvest.

“First of all, Varta needs significant new capital.”

Tojner rejects the hedge funds' alternative proposal of new loans to restructure Varta: “Above all, Varta AG needs significant new equity capital. In my opinion, too much new external capital would overwhelm the company, and in two years we would be in the same situation again.

According to insiders, a compromise is currently being reached with Porsche and its lenders. The company from Ellwangen in Swabia has resorted to StaRUG restructuring procedures because its debts of nearly half a billion euros are mounting above its head.

“A lot of money was invested carelessly without analyzing the risks.”

Tojner blames Varta's misery primarily on the previous board of directors. It overestimated demand for button cells, which are mainly found in Apple headphones: “The board of directors simply tried to continue the rapid growth of the last two years, which was based at least on orders from the famous American electronics manufacturer, and allocated a lot of money.” The money was invested carelessly without a risk analysis. The supervisory board, chaired by Tojner, failed to realize this, but also made mistakes. “One got the impression that only the sky was the limit for growth. The lack of risk assessment and the overload on the organization would have led to the collapse in 2022.”