IInvestor Lars Windhorst wants to end his cooperation with Hertha BSC after the recent scandal and offers the capital city club to buy back the shares purchased for 374 million euros. In a statement made available to the German Press Agency, Windhorst explained that the current President, Kay Bernstein, was “clearly not interested in trusting and serious cooperation”. There is no basis and no perspective anymore.
Bernstein had his 101st day as President of Hertha BSC on Wednesday. The former Ultra surprisingly won the election after Werner Gegenbauer resigned. Windhorst wanted the long-time boss out of office, and the investor who joined Hertha with his Tennor Group in 2019 left no doubt about that. However, Windhorst dismissed media reports that Windhorst had launched a campaign against Gegenbauer via an Israeli agency as nonsense.
Windhorst: “Prejudgment by Bernstein”
“Instead of working with us on the clarification, President Bernstein decided to join the preliminary convictions without examining the evidence,” Windhorst described the approach of the new club management from his point of view. In a conversation with them, the President named “the break with Tennor” as the goal of his activities.
Under these conditions, further cooperation for the benefit of Hertha BSC is ruled out, economic and sporting goals cannot be achieved in this way, “and the essential basis of our commitment to Hertha BSC is destroyed”. He will therefore end his involvement with Hertha and officially offer the club “to buy back our majority stake of 64.7% at the purchase price at the time”.
As the “Spiegel” reported, the Hertha Presidium wants to decide on Wednesday evening about an application for Windhorst to be excluded from the club. The club pointed out that they generally do not comment on the content of the regular meetings in advance. In addition, one will not anticipate the investigation of the espionage affair by a law firm. If Windhorst were to be excluded from the association, the Berlin association court would decide if the presidium applied. Exclusion would not change Tennor’s status as a shareholder.
