Wirecard Said to Add SoftBank Partner to Supervisory Board

(Bloomberg) -- Embattled German electronic payment provider Wirecard AG is close to naming a partner at SoftBank Group Corp.’s investment arm as a new supervisory board member, continuing its personnel overhaul in an effort to regain shareholder confidence, according to people familiar with the matter.

Samuel Merksamer’s appointment could be announced as early as this week and is seen as a vote of confidence by SoftBank in a company whose market value has dropped about 14% this year, the people said, declining to be identified discussing information that isn’t public.

Merksamer joined SoftBank Investment Advisers, which controls the $100 billion Vision Fund, last October, and has represented billionaire Carl Icahn on several corporate boards including truck maker Navistar International Corp., American International Group Inc. and Hertz Global Holdings Inc.

A spokesman for Wirecard declined to comment. A spokesman for SoftBank Investment Advisers wasn’t immediately available to comment.

In April last year, SoftBank agreed to buy $1 billion of Wirecard convertible bonds, and in September cut its exposure in a complex transaction that included signing a “strategic cooperation agreement” with the payments firm. The move was seen as facilitating partnerships between SoftBank’s portfolio companies and Wirecard, including Auto1 Group, Brightstar and Oyo Corp.

Wirecard’s supervisory board has five members since former Chairman Wulf Matthias resigned and was replaced by Thomas Eichelmann, who had joined the committee mid-2019. In Germany, supervisory boards have an oversight function and usually consist of 20 members.

Read More: Wirecard Expands Management Team in Bid to Revive Investor Trust

Wirecard has been mired in controversy about its accounting practices and has put off the publication of its 2019 financial results three times. The company has been working with KPMG on a probe into allegations about accounting irregularities brought forward by a series of articles in the Financial Times. A special audit by KPMG in April failed to resolve all concerns and triggered a 26% decline in Wirecard’s stock.

Wirecard’s shares rose 1.7% to 94.17 euros at 3:29 p.m. in Frankfurt on Wednesday.

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