LUXEMBOURG (dpa-AFX) - Ailing real estate group Adler Group has found an auditor for its annual financial statements after a long search. The audit firm Avega is to be appointed auditor for the years 2022 and 2023, the company announced in Luxembourg on Monday evening. The decision is to be taken by shareholders at a general meeting, which is reportedly expected to take place on Nov. 27. Avega had said it would accept the assignment. Three other auditing firms are reportedly to take over the audit of the sub-segments relevant to the group.

"We on the board of directors of Adler Group are extremely pleased that, after a search of around 15 months and more than a hundred discussions, we can finally present a solution for auditing our annual and consolidated financial statements," board chairman Stefan Kirsten said. He added that Adler had thus mastered the program begun in February 2022 to deal with the allegations of a short seller.

Adler had come under the scrutiny of financial market regulator Bafin in October 2021 following allegations by Fraser Perring and is also under pressure due to higher interest rates and a high financing requirement. To this end, the company has thinned out its portfolio and sold properties to reduce its debt.

The auditing firm KPMG had refused to give Adler an audit certificate for 2021. The Group had then published the figures last spring without an audit opinion. KPMG had then even rejected the appointment as auditor of the 2022 figures by a Berlin court. In 2021, Adler had posted a bottom-line loss of just under 1.2 billion euros./stw/he