Friday 9 January 2009

daunting


German billionaire Adolf Merckle - often described as Europe's Warren Buffett- jumped in front of a train and killed himself as his financial empire struggled under a towering burden of debt that left him "broken," his family said yesterday.

Merckle, 74, was found dead on the tracks Monday night, about 300 yards from his home in the southwestern German city of Blaubeuren. A suicide note was found.

Forbes magazine had ranked Merckle as the 92nd-richest man in the world, worth an estimated $9.2 billion, but his firms have been hit hard by the world financial crisis and an estimated $600 million loss in a recent Volkswagen stock deal.

Merckle's holding company owes $6.7 billion to banks. His recent pleas to the German government for a bailout appear to have gone nowhere.

"The dedicated family businessman was broken by his inability to handle the situation and he ended his own life," read a statement issued by his family.

Merckle's varied holdings included pharmaceuticals, cement, textiles, software systems and a manufacturer of all-terrain vehicles. A lawyer, he spent most of his career as an investor, earning the comparison to Buffett, ranked by Forbes as the world's richest man.

Merckle's "empire was falling apart," Stefan Mueller, a managing partner at Proprietary Partners in Frankfurt, told Bloomberg News.

Merckle is the third international investment figure to commit suicide under mounting financial pressure in recent months.

Thierry Magon de La Villehuchet, who lost an estimated $1.4 billion he had invested on behalf of his clients with Bernard Madoff, killed himself at his Midtown office last month.

In September, London financier Kirk Stephenson, a chief operating officer of private equity firm Olivant Advisers, stepped in front of a train speeding at 100 mph. Associates speculated he succumbed to the pressure of the financial crisis.


taken from here

Merckle was reported to have lost 400 million euros on the bad VW trade. He also was struggling to finance his roughly 80% stake in Heidelbergcement.

Last week, his holding firm, VEM, had reached a deal with 40 banks to give him more time to repay debt.
Shares of Heidelbergcement dropped 6% in late trading in Frankfurt.



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so ?? how? still want to shop like crazy?

still dare to?

:p


7 comments:

weithian said...

u super crappppppyyy loooo~~~~~ geez

YewJinn said...

see money doesnt buy u happiness. u can have all the bak-kuas in the world but as long as u live a lie,u wont be happy...look at me i have practically nothin..no bak-kua for cny and yet i'm happy.....haha kiddin just saying cos i'm jealous of ur bakua

YewJinn said...

omg, i can't believe u just gave me sum chicken floss....i was like this is so not happening but really thank you from the bottom of my heart for satisfying my craving.

xx

JoShIbOsHi said...

impressive post. do u actually keep up with financial news?

curiositykills said...

weithian:

ahahahah what crappy! really what! :p make u think twice! :p *grin*mwahs

yewjinn:

lols! thats coz i like ur honesty! hence, honesty pays! u happy? so now u happy i happy! :)))
lols.
i was a little worried. u know la..ahem...how u got it..ehee..lols.

josh:

eh u ah! mana u saunter from eh? ehee.. hmm..good ques u have. i am not as well-kept on news anymore ever since i came here :( too bogged down with other stuff. u can enlighten me tho! would love to know! :)

btw, does it cause an uproar? since is happened in germany

and eh..i link ur blog to mine k? didnt know u blog! haha :p

JoShIbOsHi said...

ahaa....come from nowhere. I also do not keep up to date wif news already. Been too busy. but i try my best at the end of the week. Just the big news.

Its not really an uproar. But a lot of hedge funds have been hit real bad by the VW-porsche deal. It was like shortly the worlds bigges company by market cap wif shareprice soaring over 1000 euros per share. but its really smart of porshe. Raked billions. Coupled wif madoffs scam, lotsa hedge fund are in a bad patch.

kxin said...

i call him an idiot as he committed suicide... no offence!


He dun even deserve the wealth and success in the first place as he dun even know the true meaning of life =)