The German government is to tighten the rules governing the disclosure of shareholdings, in a bid to protect companies from aggressive hedge funds and avoid a repeat of last year's shock investor rebellion at Deutsche Börse, the stock exchange group.
Under legislation being drafted by Germany's new CDU-SPD coalition government, investors would have to report stakes as soon as they exceeded 3 per cent of voting rights, down from the existing 5 per cent, officials said. The rules are due to become law at the start of next year.
The change would put Germany out of step with much of continental Europe, where a 5 per cent disclosure threshold is the norm. But it would bring it into line with the UK, where the threshold is 3 per cent, with further disclosure triggered at every percentage point thereafter.
Early last year, Deutsche Börse saw its planned acquisition of the London Stock Exchange overturned and its chairman and chief executive ousted after investors rebelled in the most dramatic show of shareholder activism continental Europe had experienced.
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