The search for a new investor for Hamburg-based private bank M.M. Warburg, which has been heavily criticised in the wake of the cum-ex tax scandal in recent years, is dragging on. A structured sales process that has been running since 2024, for which the bank's shareholders mandated the investment bank Perella Weinberg and the law firm Latham & Watkins, has remained unsuccessful as of the end of March. The process is currently paused, the bank said in response to an enquiry.

A solution had been found for a loan from the bank to the owners in connection with the involvement in illegal cum-ex transactions, even without a new investor. In addition to strengthening the bank's capital base, the search for a buyer was expected to redeem a loan from Warburg Bank to the parent company M.M. Warburg & Co Gruppe (Warburg Group) for 60 million euros, which was due at the end of March 2025. The shareholders Christian Olearius and Max Warburg, who each hold a 40% stake in the Warburg Group, had taken out a loan to repay tax debts from cum-ex share transactions in the years 2007 to 2011, totalling almost 280 million euros including interest. Supervisors later demanded that the loan be repaid by the end of March 2025.

Part of the loan will be repaid and another part extended, Warburg Bank has now announced, without specifying concrete amounts, conditions or a term. BaFin has been informed, and the bank's Supervisory Board has given its approval. According to Warburg Bank, its current liquidity situation is appropriate.

The arrangement for the loan gives the bank time to prepare for a continuation of the process seeking a new investor. The age of the main shareholders speaks in favour of an early resumption: Olearius is 82 years old and has always denied the accusation of serious tax evasion in connection with cum-ex transactions, most recently in a criminal trial at Bonn Regional Court that was discontinued at the end of June 2024 for health reasons. The shareholders had to transfer their voting rights to authorised representatives.

Warburg Bank said that there was no fixed date for the restart of the search for investors. The bank intends to change its core banking system by 2026, as part of its reorganisation launched three years ago. The migration to the service provider Atruvia will require investments in the double-digit million range in 2023 alone – figures for last year are not available.