(1) The company or stockholders whose shares of stock, in the aggregate, are at least equivalent to one twentieth of the capital stock or to a stake of 500,000 euros, may file a petition for a decision to be handed down by the court having jurisdiction pursuant to section 132 (1) against the conclusive determinations by the special auditors in accordance with section 259 (2) and (3), provided they do so within one month of such determinations having been published in the Federal Gazette. Section 258 (2) sentences 4 and 5 applies accordingly. The petition must be directed at obtaining a declaratory judgment regarding the minimum amount at which the assets items designated in the petition ought to have been stated or the maximum amount at which the liabilities items designated in the petition ought to have been stated. The petition of the company may also be directed at obtaining a declaratory judgment that the annual financial statements did not set out the understatements established in the special auditors’ conclusive determinations.
(2) The court will take the final decision on the petition at its equitably exercised discretion, taking account of all circumstances. Section 259 (2) sentences 2 and 3 is to be applied. Inasmuch as completely clearing up all relevant circumstances would entail significant difficulties, the court is to estimate the values or amounts to be stated.
(3) Section 99 (1), (2) sentence 1, (3) and (5) applies accordingly. The court is to serve its decision on the company and, if stockholders have filed the petition pursuant to subsection (1), also on the stockholders. Further, it is to give notice of same, without providing the reasons on which it is based, in the company’s publications of record. The company and the stockholders whose shares of stock, in the aggregate, are at least equivalent to one twentieth of the capital stock or to a stake of 500,000 euros, is entitled to lodge a complaint. Section 258 (2) sentences 4 and 5 applies accordingly. The period within which a complaint must be lodged commences running upon notice of the decision being given in the Federal Gazette; however, it will not commence running for the company prior to the decision having been served to it, nor will it commence running, if stockholders have filed the petition pursuant to subsection (1), for the stockholders prior to the decision having been served on them, either.
(4) Where the court complies with the petition, the costs are to be imposed on the company, in all other cases on the petitioner. Section 247 applies accordingly.