ThyssenKrupp Falls on Capital Increase Report: Frankfurt Mover

ThyssenKrupp AG (TKA), the German steelmaker struggling to rebuild after a failed expansion in the Americas, slumped the most in more than a year in Frankfurt trading on speculation it’s planning a capital increase.

ThyssenKrupp slid as much as 6.9 percent, the steepest intraday drop since December 2011, and traded 6.5 percent lower at 17.185 euros as of 10:15 a.m. local time. The shares lost 43 percent of their value last year after the company wrote down 3.6 billion euros ($4.7 billion) and canceled its dividend for the first time.

The steelmaker is considering a capital increase of more than one billion euros, Handelsblatt reported earlier today. Kilian Roetzer, a spokesman for ThyssenKrupp, declined to comment on the report.

“ThyssenKrupp needs a capital increase, it cannot survive without it,” Hans-Peter Wodniok, an analyst at Fairesearch GmbH & Co KG, said by phone from Kronberg near Frankfurt.

A possible obstacle to an increase is the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation, the company’s largest shareholder, whose 25.33 percent stake gives it a blocking minority in ThyssenKrupp. The foundation is headed by Berthold Beitz, a 99 year-old veteran German industrialist.

“The question is what the foundation will do,” said Wodniok. “It probably couldn’t participate in a capital increase,” he said.

Handelsblatt said Beitz may have been convinced of the necessity of the increase given the company’s finances. The foundation didn’t immediately return a call from Bloomberg News seeking comment.

Net Loss

Chief Executive Officer Heinrich Hiesinger is expanding the company’s non-steel business and cutting its business divisions to five from eight. ThyssenKrupp posted a net loss of 4.7 billion euros in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30.

Hiesinger, 52, is seeking to repair the damage from price- fixing and bribery scandals as well as the botched expansion in the Americas.

ThyssenKrupp unexpectedly announced on March 8 that Gerhard Cromme is stepping down on March 31 as chairman of the supervisory board. The Board approvedDeutsche Telekom AG Chairman Ulrich Lehner as his successor today.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tino Andresen in Dusseldorf at tandresen1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at wkennedy3@bloomberg.net