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Scout24's activist shareholders gain non-executive board seat

Published 30/08/2019, 17:45
Scout24's activist shareholders gain non-executive board seat
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By Alexander Hübner and Jörn Poltz

MUNICH (Reuters) - Activist investors calling for strategic change at Scout24 (DE:G24n) have won a vote to place a representative on the German classifieds group's non-executive supervisory board, ramping up pressure on management.

Christoph Brand, an executive at Swiss publisher Tamedia (S:TAMN), won a board seat at the group's annual shareholder meeting in Munich, beating out rival candidate Mathias Hedlund, who had been proposed by Scout24's management.

Brand had been nominated by London-based Pelham Capital, which has built a 7.7% position in the group.

A takeover bid for the classifieds group by Hellman & Friedman and Blackstone (NYSE:BX) failed earlier this year, despite management's recommendation that shareholders accept the offer.

That bid attracted the attention of activists including Pelham and Elliott, which has disclosed a stake of more than 7%, and which have called on the company to boost shareholder returns.

Scout24 said this month it would explore a sale or spin-off of its autos platform AutoScout24 and borrow more to buy back shares, in a concession to Elliott's demand to carve out and sell AutoScout24.

The company runs Germany's leading property portal ImmobilienScout24 and its autos operation, which competes with eBay's (O:EBAY) mobile.de, is present in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria.

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