The Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) informed that it has sanctioned the ultimate and indirect controlling shareholder (the “Sanctioned Person”) of Orco Property Group S.A. (the “Issuer”) for market manipulations on the shares of the Issuer (ISINLU0122624777) in accordance with the provisions of the Law of 9 May 2006 on market abuse (the “Market Abuse Law”).
The CSSF has, more particularly, concluded that the omissions and/or misstatements in the Crestline Ventures Corp. and Gamala Limited’s press release of 18 October 2012 (“Crestline Ventures Corp. and Gamala Ltd.
Together Acquire a 20.69 % Interest in Orco Property Group”) qualify as market manipulation under Article 1(2)(c) of the Market Abuse Law and that such infringement is imputable to the Sanctioned Person as the beneficial owner of the above-mentioned entities.
The CSSF has also concluded that the use of Aspley Ventures Limited, Fetumar Development Limited and Jagapa Limited (each a “30% SPV”) for subscribing in aggregate to 1.2 billion new shares of the Issuer in November 2014 and in May 2016 and the subsequent disposal of the 30% SPVs (including the Issuer’s shares held by them) on or around 8 June 2016 qualify as market manipulation under Article 1(2)(b) of the Market Abuse Law and that these market manipulation instances are imputable to the Sanctioned Person as the person whose identity the use of the colluding 30% SPVs and their respective beneficial owners purported to conceal.
In connection with the above-mentioned infringements of Article 11 of the Market Abuse Law and pursuant to Article 33(1) of the Market Abuse Law, the CSSF has decided to impose an administrative fine on the Sanctioned Person for market manipulations on the Issuer’s shares.
It should be noted that the above-mentioned decision of the CSSF to impose an administrative fine for market manipulations on the Sanctioned Person is final. Such decision, however, may be challenged before the Luxembourg administrative courts within a period of three months in accordance with applicable provisions of Luxembourg law.