In 1945, he fled with his family from Sudetenland, a region near the German-Czech border that was inhabited by ethnic Germans and occupied by Adolf Hitler's forces in 1938.
[3] For several decades he also held large stakes in cement company HeidelbergCement as well as vehicle manufacturer Kässbohrer.
VEM said in a public statement that it had shored up the equity capital of HeidelbergCement to support the acquisition of British cement maker Hanson using loans backed by shares as collateral.
Since the market value of the shares slumped more than 75% during the financial crisis of 2007–2008, banks demanded further securities and early redemption on their loans.
[5] Also in 2008, Merckle made a speculative investment based on his belief that Volkswagen shares would fall; however, in October 2008, Porsche SE's support of Volkswagen led to a short squeeze that sent shares on the Xetra stock exchange from €210.85 to over €1,000 in less than two days.