German billionaire Adolf Merckle committed suicide by throwing himself under a train, �broken� as his business empire crumbled under a growing burden of debt, his family said.

The 74 year-old businessman was hit yesterday evening near his hometown of Blaubeuren, 44 miles southeast of Stuttgart, a police officer said in an interview. His body was found on the tracks at around 7:30 p.m. about 300 yards from his home and a suicide note had also been found.

Merckle, whose holding company owes banks about 5 billion euros ($6.7 billion), owned stakes in HeidelbergCement AG and drug wholesaler Phoenix Pharmahandel AG. He had been seeking emergency financing for more than two months from a group of more than 30 banks led by Commerzbank AG, Deutsche Bank AG, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg.

�The dedicated family businessman was broken by his inability to handle the situation and he ended his own life,� his family said in a statement today. �The distress at his companies caused by the financial crisis and the resultant uncertainty of the last few weeks� contributed to his death, the family added.

Merckle, whose estimated $9.2 billion fortune put him 94th on Forbes� list of the world�s richest people, was hurt by bets on Volkswagen AG, a drop in the value of HeidelbergCement stock and increasing debt. The family�s spiraling debt threatened holdings including its VEM Vermoegensverwaltung GmbH holding company, which owed the bank about 5 billion euros, people with knowledge of the matter said last month.

(Bloomberg.com)