Investors Uneasy over Thiel Management

Shares in Luxembourg-based logistics group Thiel Logistik AG dived 30 percent and struck a historic low on Monday as investors fretted about its management amid jitters about recent market scandals. Market players attributed the fall to concern about the quality of the firm and its management, and said the fall had been exacerbated by the flavour of the market. ‘It is typical of the Neuer Markt right now, everybody is talking about irregularities and a logistics company’s visibility is not so high, which leaves the doors wide open for speculation,’ Marc Schaedler, Nordinvest fund manager, said. Originally envisaged as a German or European equivalent to the Nasdaq in New York, the tech-rich Neuer Markt has seen a wave of scandals and insolvencies over the past year and a half. Thiel was the third most heavily traded stock on the German market, slumping 32 percent 7.80 euros by 0857 GMT after earlier hitting a new all-time low of 7.72 euros. It was the steepest faller on the tech-rich top-50 NEMAX 50 index , which traded off 1.6 percent at 891 points. A Thiel spokesman said the company had issued no announcement which could explain the move, which market players said reflected underlying uncertainty in the Neuer Markt.” Reuters: “‘It looks as if some people are going out of the smaller logistics stocks to focus on TPG rather than on the small firms’, said one Frankfurt-based senior trader.”