Overview
- At Vonovia’s annual meeting in Bochum, shareholder representatives challenged the size and structure of Rolf Buch’s exit payments, citing a €5.8 million cash severance, an initial €3.3 million non‑compete payment and roughly 211,000 virtual shares.
- Media calculations and investor questions suggested the combined value of Buch’s package could exceed €15 million, prompting critics to ask why elements of the deal were not netted or subjected to shareholder approval.
- Supervisory‑board chair Clara C. Streit defended the arrangement as contractually agreed, aligned with the company’s remuneration system and vetted by an independent adviser.
- The asset manager DWS said it will withhold discharge for the supervisory board, arguing long tenures and overlapping roles weaken board independence and investor trust.
- New CEO Luka Mucic presented a plan to sell up to €5 billion of assets and cut Vonovia’s loan‑to‑value from about 45.4% toward 40% by end‑2028, a move intended to stabilise the balance sheet and address the company’s weak share performance and governance scrutiny.