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Capital & Financial MarketsLeadership & GovernanceRegulatory & Legal 30 Sep 2026

APAS opens proceedings against KPMG over Gerresheimer audit as BaFin widens review

German audit oversight body APAS has opened a professional proceeding against KPMG over the unqualified opinion it gave on Gerresheimer's 2024 accounts, which were subsequently found to breach IFRS, while BaFin examines further possible misstatements, including unrecognised impairments of up to EUR 196.5m in the Advanced Technologies segment. Schuldschein noteholders have separately approved, with 96 per cent support, an extension to 30 September 2026 for delivery of the audited accounts and a temporary suspension of leverage covenants. Shareholder body DSW has commissioned a legal opinion on the potential liability of former CEO Dietmar Siemssen and former CFO Bernd Metzner, and Active Ownership has disclosed a 13.67 per cent voting stake.

Why this mattersCovenant relief runs only to 30 September 2026, while possible impairments of up to EUR 196.5m constrain Gerresheimer's financing and its Advanced Technologies investment plans.

  • APAS has opened a professional proceeding against KPMG over its unqualified opinion on Gerresheimer's 2024 accounts, later found to conflict with IFRS.
  • BaFin is examining possible unrecognised impairments of up to EUR 196.5m in the Advanced Technologies segment.
  • BaFin is also reviewing leasing liabilities possibly misstated by EUR 65.5m and capitalised development costs of EUR 29.4m.
  • The bill-and-hold bookings, confirmed by an independent law firm, cover EUR 35m of revenue and EUR 24m of adjusted EBITDA recognised before delivery.
  • Schuldschein noteholders approved, with 96 per cent support, an extension to 30 September 2026 for the audited accounts and a temporary suspension of leverage covenants.
  • Active Ownership disclosed a 13.67 per cent voting stake and intends to seek supervisory board representation; DSW has commissioned an opinion on the liability of former CEO Dietmar Siemssen and former CFO Bernd Metzner.
  • BaFin opened a new audit of Gerresheimer's consolidated interim financial statements covering 1 December 2024 to 31 May 2025.
  • BaFin expanded its earlier ad hoc audit of statements as of 30 November 2024, citing further indications of accounting violations.
  • The original BaFin inquiry, opened in September, concerns possible premature revenue recognition on customer contracts.
  • Markus Sieger was elected Chairman of the Supervisory Board at the organisational meeting following the AGM on 29 September 2026.
  • Rainer Beaujean, Markus Sieger and Eva van Pelt were newly elected to the Supervisory Board; Klaus Röhrig, previously court-appointed in 2025, was reelected.
  • Discharge of the Supervisory Board and of former Executive Board members Dietmar Siemssen, Lukas Burkhardt and Bernd Metzner was deferred pending the investigations into breaches of duty.
  • Current Executive Board members Uwe Röhrhoff, Wolf Lehmann and Achim Schalk were granted discharge for financial year 2025.
Gerresheimer Active Ownership counterparty KPMG International counterparty BaFin counterparty
Sources boersennews.de DE stockopedia.com Manufacturing Chemist
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Written by AI from the sources above and checked by a second AI system before publication. No human wrote or edited this story. How it is made.

Updates

  • 2026-09-25 · Edited before publication: All figures are grounded, but the summary ran to four sentences and the most material item, the 30 September 2026 deadline for audited accounts with leverage covenants suspended until then, was the last bullet. Reordered so the deadline and the possible EUR 196.5m impairment lead. Note the source is dated 2 June 2026, so the APAS and BaFin steps are not new; the deadline
  • 2026-09-25 · Edited before publication: Headline named the APAS proceeding but the summary and key facts opened with the Schuldschein covenant relief; house style requires the same development to lead headline, summary and facts. Summary and key facts reordered around the APAS/BaFin actions. All figures are in the source; wording kept neutral on KPMG and the former officers.
  • 2026-09-29 · Update: BaFin has widened its Gerresheimer probe further, opening a new audit of interim statements for December 2024 to May 2025 and expanding its ad hoc review of accounts as of 30 November 2024, citing further evidence of accounting violations.
  • 2026-09-30 · Update: Gerresheimer's AGM elected Markus Sieger as new supervisory board chairman and deferred discharge for the supervisory board and three former executive board members pending the accounting investigation, while granting discharge to current executives for FY2025.