Heraeus sets aside €170mn as probe finds precious metals test manipulation

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Heraeus metals test probe

Highlights

Heraeus has reserved €170mn in its 2025 accounts after an investigation found it manipulated precious metal test results from 2015 to 2025.
Total provisions now stand at €300mn as the company faces ongoing compensation negotiations and broader compliance concerns in its refining operations.
Prosecutors are investigating 16 current and former Heraeus employees, including ex-CEO Jan Rinnert, for suspected fraud and embezzlement amid uncovered billing irregularities.

Investigation findings and financial provisions

As reported by the Financial Times, an investigation by law firm CMS Hasche Sigle finds that Heraeus lowered test results for customer materials from 2015 to the end of 2025, reducing the cash or refined metal owed after processing. The company says it has booked €170mn in its 2025 accounts to cover potential fallout from the findings.

Heraeus chief executive Frank Stietz says the external investigation is completed and its findings have been handed to prosecutors. He says the deductions were intended to protect against differences between customer test results and Heraeus measurements, but adds that the deductions were not sufficiently transparent in some customer contracts and varied in ways that are difficult to justify scientifically.

The company plans to negotiate individual settlements with affected customers. According to Heraeus, potential compensation ranges from a few thousand euros a year for some customers to millions of euros built up over a decade for others.

Broader compliance risks for refining operations

Heraeus still has total provisions of €300mn after settlements, including the €170mn linked to the new findings. Earlier this year, the Financial Times reported that the group had set aside €460mn over allegations it unlawfully retained metal left in its equipment during processing, while prosecutors were investigating 16 current and former employees on suspicion of fraud and embezzlement.

CMS uncovered the billing issues while examining whistleblower complaints tied to those earlier irregularities. Documents seen by the Financial Times show the law firm told management in June last year that the lack of contractual transparency for customers was legally highly questionable.

People familiar with the matter say that before 2015 Heraeus employees manually reduced precious metal content in test results using subjective judgments recorded in Excel spreadsheets, without scientific justification or automated controls. After that practice was found internally around 2015, Heraeus replaced it with a statistically based system called Risk Mitigation, though deductions remained automated only for a handful of major customers and continued to be applied manually for others.

The compliance issues extend into a wider management and governance challenge at the refiner. Former chief executive Jan Rinnert left the company days before Heraeus notified authorities in 2025 and is among suspects in the ongoing criminal investigation, according to people familiar with the matter, while Stietz says the company is working intensively to strengthen its compliance culture and set the tone from the top.

Our earlier article on Menara Asia’s Menarabena platform looked at how Malaysia’s construction sector is using digital tools to connect contractors with building material suppliers while centralising certification, technical documentation, and compliance information. We also noted the role of CIDB-linked support (including an information centre in Shanghai) in helping imported products meet approval and product certification requirements, with the aim of improving quality oversight and supply-chain efficiency without replacing existing regulatory checks.

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