German prosecutors investigate possible Metro insider
dealing
Send a link to a friend
[November 06, 2017]
DUESSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) -
German prosecutors are investigating multiple officials at Metro AG
<B4B.DE> for possible insider trading and market manipulation, they said
on Monday.
The prosecutors did not specify names, but on Friday the retailer said
that German prosecutors were investigating the supervisory board
chairman and a senior executive.
The investigation centers on the flow of information ahead of a Metro
announcement on March 30, 2016, about plans to separate its wholesale
and food business from its consumer electronics chain to speed growth,
sending its shares 12 percent higher. The consumer electronics business
is now listed on the stock exchange under the name Ceconomy <CECG.DE>.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Nov/06/images/ads/current/elkhart_fertilizer_sda_FFARM_2017.png)
"There are indications that three people from the company and one person
outside the company were acquiring shares in Metro or forwarding insider
information," the Duesseldorf prosecutor, Ralf Moellmann, said in a
statement.
A regulatory filing shows that supervisory board Chairman Juergen
Steinemann bought 43,000 Metro shares on Feb. 22, 2016, worth a little
more than 1 million euros ($1.16 million) at the time. Chief Operating
Officer Pieter Boone bought 2,175 shares on Feb. 26, 2016, a separate
filing showed.
A spokesman for Metro, speaking on behalf of the company, Steinemann and
Boone, on Monday said it was aware of the prosecutor's statement and was
working closely with authorities but declined to comment beyond Friday's
statement.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/110617pics/busine31.jpg)
Shopping carts of
Germany's biggest retailer Metro AG are lined up at a Metro cash and
carry market near the city of Bonn. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/File
Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Nov/06/images/ads/current/graue_preowned_080717.png)
On Friday a Metro spokesman said: "At the time that Mr. Steinemann and
Mr. Boone bought shares, no insider information was available."
In its investigation into market manipulation, the prosecutor said the
focus was on five individuals from the company.
There are reasons to believe that the March 2016 announcement on the
demerger should have been made earlier, the prosecutor said, adding that
the delay could have had a significant effect on the share price.
On Friday the Metro spokesman said the company had communicated the
demerger in a timely fashion.
The prosecutor confirmed that a raid was conducted on Metro's
headquarters and that data and evidence had been seized and was now
being evaluated. He said that Metro was cooperating.
(Reporting by Matthias Inverardi; Writing by Tom Sims; Editing by Louise
Heavens and David Goodman)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Nov/06/images/ads/current/charrons_bch041713.png) |