Daniel Gotthardt – terror of the Compugroup free float
The name Daniel Gotthardt will not be remembered fondly by outside shareholders of the software company Compugroup Medical from Koblenz.
A few months after taking office, the CEO presented a deal with private equity firm CVC that makes the free float look pretty redundant. Following the 22 euros per share offer, CVC has built up a 21.85% stake, while the founding Gotthardt family retains its 50.12% majority holding. A delisting of the SDax company is now planned.
By squeezing out the free float, the new CEO is increasing his strategic room for manoeuvre. A more efficient capital structure, which means a higher level of debt, has already been announced. Most recently, this was 3.3 times adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, which is not particularly low. According to the company, various banks have committed to providing loans once the takeover has been completed. This suggests further acquisitions and higher investments in cloud-based products and AI-supported solutions.
On the other hand, Gotthardt and his father, company founder Frank Gotthardt, will have to live with the fact that CVC will have more influence than the free float used to. The latter's say was already severely limited by the special features of the partnership limited by shares, Compugroup's legal form.
CEOs from outside the family left
As a professor of medicine and a founder of companies, Daniel Gotthardt can bring extensive medical and entrepreneurial experience to his role as CEO. He has long been associated with his employer as a shareholder and member of the Supervisory Board and Board of Directors. His father handed over the management of the company at the end of 2020 at the age of 70, but remained the central authority as Chairman of the Board of Directors and major shareholder.
The two non-family successors, the former Head of Germany at Deutsche Telekom Dirk Wössner, and Michael Rauch, who from CFO to CEO, only held the top management position for a very short time. With effect from 1 September 2024, the Board of Directors finally appointed Gotthardt junior as CEO. He had already been working as Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President for the company, which specialises in information systems for doctors, pharmacies and hospitals, since the beginning of 2023.
Gotthardt completed his doctorate at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, and Imperial College London, and worked for 13 years at Heidelberg University Hospital, most recently as Managing Senior Physician. He also stood on his own two feet as an entrepreneur. He founded Gotthardt Healthgroup (GHG) in Heidelberg, was Managing Director of Mediteo GmbH (drug app) and the only member of the Board of Directors of GHG and XLHealth. In November 2022, Compugroup announced the acquisition of two GHG business units to expand its portfolio of data-based solutions for the healthcare sector.
Baader Bank considered the takeover offer at 22 euros per share to be unattractive– an assessment that is supported by the fact that the Gotthardt family is holding on to its majority stake. They will have their reasons. A year ago, the share was trading at around 30 euros, far above the level of the voluntary public takeover offer.
The premium of 51% on the three-month average is misleading. It only comes about because a sales and profit warning pushed the share price to a ten-year low last July, and the profound loss of confidence has so far stood in the way of a far-reaching recovery.
Free float shareholders who retain their shares can only hope that share trading will continue on an over-the-counter market. This option is denied to many institutional investors, as they are only allowed to hold shares that are listed on a regulated stock exchange. They have to sell.
