EY facing new lawsuit over Wirecard audit
Cracking the Vault: Your daily roundup on all things finance
Cracking the Vault is your daily news roundup with a focus on Switzerland and Germany.
Let’s jump in!
EY sued again over Wirecard audit; another Signa entity filed for bankruptcy; membership record for Swiss euthanasia organizations; European banks can’t close the valuation gap to US peers; domestic TV rights for top leagues fail to set new highs; and Germany added 4 unicorns in 2023.
Headline recap
EY facing new lawsuit claiming €1.5bn over role in Wirecard audit (Reuters)
Signa Development, another entity of Rene Benko’s empire, files for insolvency with €1.2bn in debt (TA)
Swiss euthanasia organizations report record membership (SWI)
Germany, together with France, Britain and the US, condemn Iran for production rate of highly enriched uranium of up to 60% purity (Reuters)
European banks received €100bn windfall from rising interest rates over past two years, but failed to close a persistent valuation gap to US peers (FT)
Domestic football TV rights agreed since 2020 for Germany, England, Spain, Italy or France’s top leagues failed to set new highs (FT)
Transaction update
Roche to buy LumiraDx's Point of Care diagnostics platform business for $295m (Reuters)
KKR-backed Biosynth acquires Zurich-based VIO Chemicals, active in custom design and production of specialty chemicals (Startup Ticker)
Fundraising
AC Immune, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering precision medicine for neurodegenerative diseases, raises $50m (Startup Ticker)
Four German unicorns added in 2023: DeepL, Raisin, 1Komma5°, Helsing (Gründerszene)
LeaseTeq, streamlining the leasing process, raises CHF8m to digitize leasing and cut down time-to-contract to 15 minutes (Startup Ticker)
Podcast picks
Loneliness epidemic unmasked: a global health challenge (BBC)