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Enkraft hires a special auditor to determine if ABO Wind violated the disclosure rules

Enkraft, an activist energy fund, is looking to appoint ABO Wind a special auditor to determine if the German renewables company informed its shareholders too late of plans to consolidate power between its major owners.

Investors could be strengthened if an auditor decides that ABO Wind has violated the disclosure rules.

It is unlikely that Enkraft's proposal would be accepted at ABO Wind’s annual general assembly on April 30, as the majority of ABO Wind’s shares are owned by its main shareholders.

ABO Wind announced last year plans to transform into a KGaA entity. This would increase the influence of two founding families that hold a combined 52% of ABO Wind.

Enkraft, a group that owns around 5 percent of ABO Wind says it only took less than a month for the group to decide the plan was in the best interests of all stakeholders. ABO Wind shares plunged following the initial announcement.

Enkraft, in a letter sent to ABO Wind and seen - referring to the initial announcement dated 1 June 2023 - said that "there are indications the change of legal forms may have been planned over a longer period of time".

ABO Wind has said that it has immediately informed the markets of its plans.

German corporate law requires companies to promptly inform the capital markets of potentially market-moving news or face potential lawsuits for damages.

Investors have, for instance, sued Porsche SE and its main owner Volkswagen for suspected market manipulating, claiming that they informed the markets too late of the carmaker's rigging diesel engine emission tests. Volkswagen and Porsche SE deny the allegations. Reporting by Christoph Steitz, Editing by Mark Potter