The Weng Fine Art Group* has further increased its shareholding in artnet AG (Artnet) this year and, as the largest shareholder of Artnet, is currently in talks with potential investors or partners who have expressed interest in developing Artnet structurally and capitalizing the company. According to the knowledge of Weng Fine Art AG (WFA), the potential partners have the necessary management and capital resources.

The management of WFA is confident that a forward-looking solution can be found this year together with the other major shareholder, the Neuendorf family, which should satisfy all parties. Only if this approach should not succeed in 2023, WFA would examine the possibility of acquiring a majority stake in Artnet itself in 2024 to realign the company. 

WFA currently sees Artnet as one of the strategically most important companies in the international art market with enormous growth potential, provided that the existing data treasure, website traffic, and brand can be monetized much better. The previous discussions with interested investors have confirmed this view of WFA.

There are currently still considerable uncertainties as to whether an acquisition of a stake by the potential investors will come about and how it would be structured. If this were to happen, it could have a significant impact on WFA's results, but this cannot yet be quantified. The future strategy of WFA could also undergo a significant change as a result of the entry of a co-investor in Artnet, so that a large part of the company's own management capacities are currently being invested in this project. 

*In this context, WFA Group refers to Rüdiger K. Weng as controlling shareholder, Weng Fine Art AG as well as Rüdiger K. Weng A+A GmbH, which together hold more than 28% but less than 30% of the shares in Artnet