Deutsche Bank could join Varta

The Deutsche Bank could directly at the battered Battery manufacturer Varta joins. The Frankfurt money house and the British financial investor Blantyre Capital Limited reported to the German Federal Cartel Office Plans to acquire minority interests of more than 25 percent each at Varta AG for review, as the Bonn competition authorities announced on their website on Tuesday.

In financial circles it was said that registration was initially a purely technical step. If Varta’s restructuring does not work, Varta’s creditors must be able to protect their interests, said an insider Reuters opposite. They are preparing for that. It was purely a precautionary measure to be able to access shares, said another insider. Deutsche Bank, Blantyre and Varta declined to comment.

Production in Nördlingen abandoned

Varta recently had to stop producing button cells in Nördlingen after losing its most important customer. Around 350 jobs will be lost as a result. The contract with the anchor customer – who has not been named – expires at the end of October, Varta said in May. In Nördlingen, Varta almost exclusively builds the rechargeable “CoinPower” button cells for Apple’s “AirPods” headphones.

In the future, these would be delivered by a supplier from China, an insider said. As a result of this step, the restructuring concept would have to be revised, it was now said. The creditors’ negotiations with Varta are currently continuing, said another insider.

Varta got into trouble due to rapid expansion and the shares were delisted from the stock exchange in 2025. Varta is owned by the Austrian entrepreneur Michael Tojner and the Stuttgart sports car manufacturer Porsche.