Deutsche Bank Board Member Schuetz Shed His Stake in the Firm

(Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Bank AG supervisory board member Alexander Schuetz disposed of his stake in Germany’s biggest lender in December, according to his spokesperson.

Schuetz is co-founder and chief executive officer of C-Quadrat, the Austrian asset management firm that oversaw HNA Group Co.’s investment in Deutsche Bank. Schuetz joined the German lender’s supervisory board in 2017 and when HNA decided to exit, Schuetz bought its remaining stake.

HNA was once one of Deutsche Bank’s largest investors, and had a series of complex financing and derivative positions tied to the stake.

Schuetz has faced scrutiny for a 2019 email exchange with Wirecard AG’s former chief executive Markus Braun that became public this month. Schuetz had told Braun to “finish” the Financial Times, which had published a series of articles alleging irregularities at the payments company.

After the exchange was disclosed in a parliamentary investigation of the Wirecard scandal, Deutsche Bank took the unusual step of publicly rebuking Schuetz, calling the emails unacceptable in tone and content.

Austrian newspaper Kurier reported Schuetz’s exit from the stake earlier Friday.

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