The college of the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) on Friday required more than 3.25 million euros in fines against eight people and three companies for insider trading in the context of the takeover of the listed real estate company Terreïs.
The AMF Sanctions Committee discussed the operation surrounding the takeover of the real estate company Terres by Swiss Life, officially announced to the market on February 12, 2019. Terres then bought back its own shares to exit the stock market.
The project was first imagined in the form of the purchase of securities by Swiss Life, giving rise, according to the AMF, to a first privileged information at the end of 2018, before taking the form of the purchase of real estate assets, the second insider information at the beginning of 2019.
The market policeman reproaches several people, via a series of precise and concordant serious indications, of having been aware of the negotiations and of having taken advantage of them to make significant capital gains.
Via his company THD, Thierry Decr, wine merchant and president of LD Vin, realized a capital gain of 434,000 euros by having invested during the first privileged information.
According to the representative of the AMF college, he could have been made aware via these links with officials of the company Ovalto, in particular its president Jacky Lorenzetti, who controls Terreis and who has invested in his company LD Vin.
It requested a million euros in fines against THD and 200,000 euros against Mr. Decret.
The links with Jacky Lorenzetti, not called into question by the AMF, are also considered as being able to establish a plausible circuit for the transmission of privileged information with his brother, Pascal Lorenzetti, and his company Option 7. For an added value of 278,000 euros, the AMF demanded a fine of 650,000 euros against the company and 150,000 euros against Pascal Lorenzetti.
The use of privileged information is also criticized by a manager of Razier, a subcontractor of Terres, Jacques-Antoine Condat. The AMF college criticizes the latter for having recommended his partner, Ghania Begriche, and his brother, Jean-Roger Condat to invest, the first time that such an accusation has been brought before the commission. Fines of 300,000 euros, 75,000 euros and 125,000 euros respectively were requested.
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For similar facts, 550,000 euros were requested against Benjamin Parisielle, then administrative and financial director of the Rougnon group, which controls Razier, 40,000 euros against a senior manager of the Racing 92 rugby club, owned by Jacky Lorenzetti, Christophe Mombet, and 20,000 euros against the former asset manager of Terres Kilian Heim.
The defense of the respondents asked not to take into account certain elements obtained by the investigators via fadettes, telephone statements, which is illegal in this type of investigation according to it. It also disputes the existence of the first privileged information on the project of repurchase of shares by Swiss Life and which ultimately did not succeed because of a price deemed too low.
The lawyers also tried to justify for each of their clients that the significant investments in the Terres shares had another origin than a possible knowledge of the negotiations.
In addition, the representative of the AMF college requested a dissuasive sanction of 200,000 euros against Terres for failure to maintain the list of insiders. It is also the first time that this reason has been raised before the committee.
The Sanctions Committee is due to make its decision in the coming weeks.