Thinned ranks of potential Jean Frey investors

The circle of potential investors for Jean Frey AG is thinning out: on Tuesday, Ringier definitively withdrew from the contract negotiations due to "excessive purchase price demands by Swissfirst". Ringier will not say how high the maximum offer was. However, Ringier spokeswoman Myrta Bugini confirmed to WerbeWoche that the bid had amounted to over 70 million francs, and for Walter Bosch, who represents the GMT fund (London) and individual private investors, the ship seems to have sailed. The reason: time is running out. "We should at least be able to carry out an abbreviated version of due diligence," he explains. But Swissfirst boss Thomas Matter waves it off. "If we were to postpone the announcement of the investors again, we would be dead as a bank." Nevertheless, Bosch leaves the door open. "If the shares cannot be placed, we would still be interested in the entire package," he says.
Jean Frey AG strongly denies statements in the NZZ am Sonntag. "TR7 is in no way a turnaround case," states CEO Filippo Leutenegger. He has also never spoken of job cuts. "Not for any of the titles. That is absolute nonsense."
The fact remains, however, that the Beobachter problem has not been solved. Editor-in-chief Ivo Bachmann confirmed to WerbeWoche that the Beobachter crew had not deviated from its dissident stance. This means that the threat of mass redundancies if Jean Frey AG is not sold to Ringier is likely to become reality. Chairman of the Board of Directors Christoph Richterich qualifies: "It is possible that some employees will not accept the new situation, which I regret. I can't force anyone to accept Jean Frey AG in its new form."
Regarding his future as Chairman of the Board of Directors, Richterich says he has already been asked by investors to extend his mandate. "I will consider the offer," he said. Swissfirst intends to announce the investors after Easter (dse).