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HSH Nordbank gets €3-billion state bailout

Hamburg and the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein on Tuesday bailed out the beleaguered HSH Nordbank with a fresh capital injection of €3 billion and guarantees totalling €10 billion.

HSH Nordbank gets €3-billion state bailout
Photo: DPA

Leaders from the two German states – Hamburg Mayor Ole von Beust and Schleswig-Holstein state premier Peter Harry Carstensen – hammered out the deal to save the state-backed bank in the city of Kiel. The bank, which helps finance regional savings banks and investment projects, faced having to shut down due to lacking equity.

“We had to act because the alternatives for both states would have been indisputably more expensive,” said Carstensen.

But he admitted it had been a “difficult decision” to use public money to bail out the HSH Nordbank.

Beust said the bank was an “important financer of important economic sectors in the region” and that Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein had acted to protect hundreds of thousands of jobs.

The two states will split the aid, which will be fed into the bank via a public fund. The finance minister of Schleswig-Holstein, Rainer Wiegard, said the states‘ stake in HSH Nordbank will now climb to over 80 percent. Before the capital injection Schleswig-Holstein had held 29.1 percent, Hamburg 30.41 percent, while US investor J.C. Flowers had 25.67 percent.

Should the American private equity firm decide not to participate in the capital injection, its share of HSH Nordbank will be diluted.

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Which Bavaria-based companies regularly hire English speakers?

Bavaria is no doubt a beautiful state with a strong economy, but can be a hard place for non-German speakers to integrate. The Local takes a look at job opportunities in Germany’s southeastern 'Free State.'

Which Bavaria-based companies regularly hire English speakers?

Munich ranks third in German cities with the highest total GDP, behind Berlin and Hamburg, but in terms of GDP per capita, it’s higher than both of them.

It also consistently ranks high, often highest, in terms of average household income.

As of 2023, nine of the 40 companies listed on DAX, Germany’s stock index, were based in Bavaria. Seven of those are based specifically in Munich.

While Frankfurt is commonly known to be Germany’s business capital, Munich can claim the title of Germany’s insurance capital, which is saying something, as Germany is home to some of the largest insurance firms in the world, like Allianz.

Beyond the state’s capital city, a number of international companies are based elsewhere in Bavaria, particularly in the Franken region, near Nuremberg.

Which companies actively hire English speakers?

Bavaria, and Munich in particular, is home to a number of companies at the forefront of international business. But the state is known for its traditional, sometimes conservative, culture, which affects its business culture as well.

Whereas companies embracing English as their primary business language are easy to find in Berlin, the practice is less common in the south. That said, there are some notable exceptions. 

Sportswear giants, Adidas and Puma, both have their headquarters near Nuremberg in Herzogenaurach, and regularly recruit English speaking international talent.

“As an international company, our teams reflect the rich diversity of our consumers and communities,” Jon Greenhalgh, Senior Manager Media Relations for Adidas told The Local. “Fostering a culture of inclusion where we value and leverage differences, ensures that we can authentically engage with our employees and truly connect with our consumers.”

He added that around 40 per cent of Adidas’ Germany-based employees are foreign nationals, from over 100 different countries.

Siemens and BMW rank among Bavaria’s top employers, and are also known to hire their fair share of foreigners.

“In Germany, we recently had around 2,000 open positions,” Konstanze Somborn told The Local on behalf of Siemens AG.

He added that Siemens operates in 190 countries. “That is why we value international teams very much…English as a common language is very usual.”

READ ALSO: ‘Which German companies want to hire foreigners?’

Similarly, BMW hires workers from a variety of backgrounds. 

“Every year, we hire lots of internationals and welcome them to the BMW Group,” Dr. Hans-Peter Ketterl, a press spokesman for BMW Group told The Local. 

But not all of these positions are available to non-German speakers.

Ketterl added that BMW’s working language is German in the country, even though, “English is an indispensable entry requirement as the second corporate language in many areas of the company.”

Check job boards and follow best practices

If it’s your first time applying for jobs in Germany, make sure to change your resume to the German format, even for English positions.

While Germany is home to its own job boards, like Xing, LinkedIn is probably the best place to start. In addition to searching for positions based in your preferred location, you can check relevant groups, like Munich Startups, to broaden your horizons.

The English Jobs in Germany website is also a good resource to start with. 

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