Insider dealing charges brought against the CEO and the Deputy CEO of Ahtium in a matter concerning Talvivaara Management Ltd
- no personal benefit claimed to have been gained by the defendants30 January 2018 - Ahtium Plc (the "Company") has been notified that charges have been brought against the CEO and a member of its Executive Committee acting as the Deputy CEO on a case concerning alleged misuse of insider information. The charges concern the sale of subscription rights by the former key employees' holding company Talvivaara Management Ltd in March 2013, which sales proceeds were used to subscribe for the shares in the Rights Issue organized by Talvivaara Mining Company Plc ("Talvivaara"). Talvivaara Management Ltd was a holding company whose shareholders included, in addition to the CEO and the Deputy CEO of the Company, 14 employees among Talvivaara's management and key employees. The sole purpose of the company was to hold shares in Talvivaara. Talvivaara Management Ltd was dissolved in the spring 2015.
Talvivaara Management Ltd participated in Talvivaara's Rights Issue in March 2013. The company financed its subscriptions by selling through public trading a part of its subscription rights relating to the Rights Issue and by using the entire sales proceeds, net of income taxes, to subscribe for new shares in Talvivaara. Talvivaara lowered its annual production guidance in July 2013, four months after the Rights Issue and the cessation of trading in the subscription rights, at which time Talvivaara Management Ltd still held all the shares in Talvivaara subscribed for in the Rights Issue or acquired prior to that. During its existence Talvivaara Management Ltd never sold any of the Talvivaara shares it held.
The charges of which the Company has now been notified concern aggravated misuse of insider information, but according to the charges the defendants have not gained any personal benefit, which would be required to be forfeited through the court process. The Company is not a party to the case, and the Company's view is that the brought charges have no impact on the Company or its financial position nor do they give any reason to reassess the position of the CEO or the composition of the Company's Executive Committee.
Enquiries
Ahtium Plc Tel +358 20 7129 800
Tapani Järvinen, Chairman of the Board of Directors
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Ahtium Oyj via Globenewswire