The ailing real estate investor Adler Group does not receive an attestation from the auditors of KPMG for its annual financial statements. KPMG Luxembourg, which was commissioned with the audit, informed the company that it would issue “a disclaimer of opinion (note of refusal) for the consolidated financial statements and individual financial statements for 2021”, the Adler Group announced on Friday evening in Luxembourg. He was “not in a position to give an audit opinion”. The company did not provide any information on the reasons for the lack of attestation.
Such a note of refusal is due if there are so-called audit obstacles that prevent the accounting experts from checking essential facts in the balance sheet. The company will nevertheless present the 2021 annual financial statements as planned on Saturday – if only for the conditions for its
to fulfill bonds. The Adler Group had repeatedly postponed the publication of its balance sheet due to an investigation by the KPMG auditors.
The occasion
The reason for the audit was allegations by short seller Fraser Perring with regard to Adler’s accounting methods. The auditors at KPMG Forensic did not find any systematic fraud, but did identify deficiencies.
“It’s not a first-class acquittal, of course deficiencies were uncovered,” said the new head of the Adler Group’s board of directors, Stefan Kirsten, when presenting the results of the special audit. The Bonn financial supervisory authority BaFin also examines the company’s books. “We will evaluate the results of the KPMG investigation into the Adler Group and include them in our audit,” said a BaFin spokeswoman.