Deutsche Bank’s Mystery Middleman Sat In on Saudi Stake Plans

(Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Bank AG didn't just rely on obscure German businessman Daniel Wruck for advice when making investments in small startups -- but apparently had him in the room when discussing the possibility of Saudi Arabia becoming an anchor investor during turbulent times.

In the fall of 2019, Wruck, proprietor of a dry-ice industrial cleaning company based outside Frankfurt, attended a dinner in Manhattan which featured, among others, two of corporate Germany's biggest power-brokers, Deutsche Bank AG Supervisory Board Chairman Paul Achleitner and former Siemens AG Chief Executive Officer Klaus Kleinfeld, according to people familiar with the matter.

At the dinner, the idea of the Saudi government making an investment in the lender was discussed, the people said, who asked not to be named discussing the meetings. The presence of Wruck at the Manhattan meeting raises fresh questions for Deutsche Bank, as the bank had already flagged potential suspicious activity regarding one of his accounts, people familiar with the matter said.

Compliance rules would have prevented Achleitner from knowing about the internal concerns around Wruck, one person said.

Wruck, whose role in business deals involving Deutsche Bank's investment arm is now being probed by German investigators, has built a network among high-level German executives in part due to the connections he has touted to the oil rich Gulf nation. Wruck has not been accused of wrongdoing.

Kleinfeld had been appointed as an adviser to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman the previous year, potentially making him a key contact for the bank as it mulled a move by the kingdom to buy stock worth over a billion dollars. Germany's largest lender was at the time walking wounded, with the share price having hit a record low after a string of heavy annual losses.

Deutsche Bank dispatched a pair of senior executives to New York later that year to discuss the terms of a deal in more detail with Kleinfeld, the people said.

As part of the effort, a document was drafted pitching the upside for Deutsche Bank shares and the strategic steps the bank would take in coming years, according to a copy of the document.

A Deutsche Bank spokesman said that “we do not comment about potential meetings of our chairman or about speculation concerning talks with actual or potential shareholders.” A spokesman for Wruck declined to comment on plans which “never materialized.” Representatives for Kleinfeld and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund declined to comment.

Achleitner Pressure

Achleitner himself was under attack at the time from some of Deutsche Bank's biggest shareholders who laid blame at his feet for the falling value of their stakes in the ailing lender.

Being present at discussions with Deutsche Bank's chairman regarding what would have been a major investment in Germany's biggest bank was yet another highlight in Wruck's growing book of deal connections.

While the German national's official job is running a small business in the Hoechst industrial estate, his supposed Middle East connections have made him a coveted adviser to some of Germany's biggest companies. He claims to be the son of a member of the Saudi royal family.

People involved in the deal were unsure as to what Wruck's role would be. Two people involved said using Wruck's network in Saudi Arabia to attract investors was discussed, while another said he played no role in the talks.

Around the time of the discussions, Deutsche Bank's asset management firm DWS Group twice invested in units of financial technology company Arabesque Group, which Wruck had done paid advisory work for.

More recently, however, Wruck's involvement has been attracting scrutiny. German prosecutors and federal criminal police are looking at whether ties between Wruck and the head of DWS, Asoka Woehrmann, had any undue impact on business deals, Bloomberg reported last month, though it's not clear if either man is the target of a formal probe.

In addition, five German lenders, including Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank AG, carried out about 20 money-laundering checks involving Wruck between 2018 and 2021, the weekly Der Spiegel reported earlier this month.

Wruck was also at a separate meeting between Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Christian Sewing and New York real estate mogul Stanley Chera, Bloomberg has reported.