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Where does the ex-boss of the gun manufacturer Heckler & Koch, Andreas Heeschen, live now?
In London, in Zurich or is he an “entrepreneur in Cologne”, as he himself stated.
It was the first question at an unusual court hearing at the Stuttgart Regional Court.
Heeschen had come with his lawyer and pointed out that, for security reasons, Scotland Yard, as an arms contractor, had advised him to keep his exact address a secret.
“I live in England,” he said.
Every post reaches him through his Cologne office.
The hearing in the newly opened, modern “Stuttgart Commercial Court” was only superficially about details such as residential addresses, numbers of share certificates and loan agreements.
Formally, it was about actions to challenge resolutions from two previous general meetings of Heckler & Koch.
About how big the supervisory board should be and whether Heeschen can move in.
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Judge Alexander Schumann pointed out after several hours of hearing that, according to his impression, the core issue was a conflict between Heeschen and Nicolas Walewski's investor CDE.
The Frenchman has been the new majority owner since autumn 2020 through the takeover of pledged Heeschen shares, which he denies.
However, according to the judge, he did not negotiate on this aspect, only on aspects of stock corporation law.
This enabled him to bypass the core question of who Heckler & Koch, as Germany's leading handguns company, legally belongs to.
There is now a crunch between the once pulling together entrepreneurs Heeschen and Walewski, who have been cooperating since 2015.
A fact that is also of interest to the Berlin government.
Especially since the Oberndorfer group, according to the will of the Ministry of Defense, is expected to deliver the successor rifle for the G36 assault rifle of the German armed forces with the model HK416 and not the competitor CG Haenel.
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The Thuringian company initially emerged as the winner of a bidding competition because it offered the lowest price.
After Heckler & Koch was accused of violating patent rights, CG Haenel was recently withdrawn from the contract, which was believed to be safe, although this patent violation has not yet been legally clarified.
Haenel announced that he would file a lawsuit against the exclusion.
The attorneys at the Oberndorf-based arms manufacturer remain busy and it should be clear to those involved who the company actually belongs to.
Judge demands withdrawal of the action
How explosive and complex the background to the new Heckler & Koch majority owner CDE is can be seen from the fact that it took almost two years before the Federal Ministry of Economics even approved the majority takeover of H&K by Walewski in 2020.
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The majority of the arms manufacturer indirectly belongs to a finance company Sofi Kapital Ltd.
on Barbados in the Caribbean.
According to the transparency register, the beneficial owner is the banker Gérard Lussan in Barbados.
The different parties clashed at the trial.
An explosive mix with top-class lawyers.
Former boss Heeschen, the Heckler & Koch site with CFO Björn Krönert, lawyers from CDE (Compagnie de Development de L'Eau) based in Luxembourg and Karl-Walter Freitag, who is often referred to as a professional plaintiff, provided the framework.
When the judge suggested, towards the end of the hearing, that Friday should withdraw his lawsuit, he replied: "I've never withdrawn a lawsuit in my life."
As Heeschen said on the sidelines of the negotiation, “I want to know what you did with my shares”.
He still holds over ten percent of the capital, regardless of whether CDE's legal opinion or his are correct.
He assessed his participation in the hearing as "an information gathering measure" since he is not a plaintiff himself.
In the legal sense, Heeschen is what is known as Friday's intervener in the complex proceedings and thus has access to the files.
At the negotiation, however, a setback is becoming apparent for Heeschen and a victory for CDE.
Judge Alexander Schumann made it clear that he considers the challenges to be unfounded.
Heeschen could not - as hoped - move into the supervisory board and would then know more precisely what is going on at the company, which now has around 1000 employees.
After the negotiation, Heeschen openly criticized the work of the incumbent executive and supervisory board of the weapons manufacturer.
In the past five years, the company has not really participated in deals in the US and NATO and Europe.
“We're missing out on great opportunities,” said Heeschen.
It is important to develop the business further.
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He was puzzled about the conflict with CDE, although he sees the guilt on the Walewski side.
In any case, there was no dissent until the Annual General Meeting on December 19, 2020, he claims.
The multi-entrepreneur left it open whether he will take legal action against CDE.
"The next step has not yet been determined." As Heeschen's lawyer Oliver Krauss from the Munich law firm Bayer Krauss Hueber said
"We fundamentally believe that we still own the shares".
In the current procedure, however, this question is not clarified.
It is noteworthy that during the several hours of negotiations, the decision to succeed to the G36 assault rifle was not discussed once, but this was not the core of the complaints either. The further development of Heckler & Koch depends on this question. The verdict is due to be pronounced on April 20th.