In the last six months, "fundamentally different opinions have increasingly arisen between the lender and myself" with regard to the management of the company, writes Suter. His "independence and autonomy as responsible and executive chairman of the board" were "called into question. He had thus been able to perform this function less and less.
Suter therefore sold all shares to Rahel Blocher. This had been foreseen as one of two options in an agreement of November 2010, when Suter had taken over Basler Zeitung Holding from Tito Tettamanti and Martin Wagner. Conversely, Rahel Blocher could have bought back the shares as a second option. According to his own statements, Suter had proposed as an alternative to redeem the loan to the company with his own investors. He had also wanted to inject "substantial" new capital and spread the majority of shares to the 78,000 subscribers and the public - the concept would have had "great chances of success. However, his proposal was rejected after weeks of intensive negotiations, Suter writes further in the internal mail. He had to sell the shares to Rahel Blocher. That is why he has now resigned as Baz publisher and from all functions of the group with immediate effect.
As late as Monday afternoon, according to various media reports, the Basel government had "rapidly transparency" about the ownership structure of the Baz. Media are important for the formation of opinion in a democracy, she wrote. A spokesman said that knowledge of the owners allows readers to classify information in the paper.
On Monday evening, Christoph Brutschin, member of the Council of Ministers, expressed his satisfaction at the clarification of the ownership situation. However, he also called for "entrepreneurial responsibility" for the several hundred jobs in the group's print shops. It is possible to bring in new orders, he said, as Blocher has many contacts.
No comment
In the last few days, neither Moritz Suter as Baz publisher nor Christoph Blocher as the rumored financial backer and influencer were willing to comment on the various media reports when asked. Blocher himself can be heard in his own words on his homepage www.Blocher-TV.ch, where he says he is not financially involved, but: "I have influence at the Basler Zeitung, that's clear." It is well known that he is personal friends with Baz editor-in-chief Markus Somm.
The Tages-Anzeiger had reported on Thursday about secret contracts with which Blocher was financing Baz: ex-UBS boss Marcel Ospel was acting as a straw man for a 70-million loan, and Blocher could get all the shares back from Suter. On Saturday, the Tages-Anzeiger then wrote that the contractual partner was not Christoph Blocher, but his daughter Rahel.
Multiple hand change
The company is in economic difficulties. In May, it reported a consolidated loss of 2.2 million Swiss francs for the past fiscal year; the figure for the previous year had been 20.9 million. Jobs had been cut. The expensively renovated printing plant was not fully utilized; write-offs burdened the accounts.
After decades of ownership by the Hagemann family of publishers in Basel, the company had been taken over in February 2010 by the Ticino financier Tito Tettamanti and the lawyer Martin Wagner. After a flurry of activity surrounding an advisory mandate from Christoph Blocher's Robinvest, it passed to Crossair founder Moritz Suter in November 2010. At the time, Suter was announced as sole shareholder¨bek.
Meanwhile, discussions about ownership continued. Moritz Suter noted in his first annual report: The funds for the holding company came¨from his private assets; he had bought a company with debts of well over CHF 100 million. (SDA)
