Activist Stake Nears 16% as Gerresheimer Races to June Audit and Centor Sale

Activist investor Active Ownership raises stake to 15.19% as Gerresheimer races to finalize audited reports, sell Centor, and navigate regulatory probes.

The clock is ticking on two fronts for Gerresheimer. While the packaging specialist works to finalise a long-overdue audited annual report by June 2026, activist investor Active Ownership has quietly built its position to 15.19 per cent of the company, turning up the heat on a board already facing a packed agenda of regulatory probes, asset sales and creditor negotiations.

The Luxembourg-based investor, together with affiliated vehicles, increased its stake from 14.70 per cent, with the direct voting rights portion rising to 12.01 per cent. The purchases, executed via Xetra at roughly €25 per share, were disclosed through directors’ dealing filings. For the market, the timing is telling: Active Ownership is doubling down not in calm waters, but at the height of an accounting crisis.

Shares traded at €28.24 on Tuesday, up 1.44 per cent on the day. The stock has surged about 64 per cent over the past 30 days, yet remains down roughly 55 per cent year-on-year — a rally built largely on borrowed hopes and short-covering.

Boardroom Battle Lines

Active Ownership’s increased heft will be felt most directly at the next annual general meeting, which has yet to be scheduled. Klaus Röhrig, a co-founder of the activist fund, already holds a seat on the supervisory board after taking over the mandate of Dorothea Wenzel. Now he and his camp will have greater sway as three other board seats — those of Axel Herberg, Andrea Abt and Annette G. Köhler — come up for renewal.

The contest matters because the board is the central arena for steering Gerresheimer through a period of operational and financial turmoil. The company is fighting to restore trust after admitting it booked revenue prematurely under bill-and-hold arrangements. Those accounting errors inflated sales by €35 million and adjusted EBITDA by €24 million, triggering investigations by both BaFin and the audit oversight body APAS, which is now examining KPMG’s work on the unqualified 2024 audit.

Centor Sale as a Balance Sheet Fix

To ease its debt burden, Gerresheimer has launched the sale of its US subsidiary Centor, which produces packaging systems for prescription drugs. Morgan Stanley is running the process, and management reports a double-digit number of interested parties. Completion is expected within this calendar year.

The proceeds are critical. The company is still digesting the Bormioli acquisition, and while a sale would not immediately heal the balance sheet, it would strengthen the company’s hand in talks with banks and Schuldschein lenders. Those creditors have already granted some breathing room: the deadline for presenting an audited 2025 annual report has been pushed back to 30 September 2026, and key leverage covenants are suspended until the end of the third quarter.

Still, the true test comes in June 2026, when Gerresheimer intends to publish the audited 2025 financial statements, followed shortly by the first-quarter report. Only then will investors get a full picture of the damage — including non-cash impairments of between €220 million and €240 million, largely tied to Sensile Medical projects and assets in Chicago. The plant in Chicago Heights is due to close by the end of the 2026 fiscal year, with production shifting to Type-1 moulded glass facilities in Italy and India.

Staying the Course Operationally

Despite the turmoil, management has held its 2026 guidance. Revenue is expected at €2.3 billion to €2.4 billion, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of roughly 18 to 19 per cent. That forecast assumes the Centor sale closes on time and the audit delivers a clean opinion.

For now, Gerresheimer enjoys a fragile reprieve. Short sellers have begun to retreat, and the stock has recovered ground. But the real anchor of confidence — the testat — remains missing. Until it lands, every rally is provisional.