Vilnius, Lithuania, 2018-03-15 15:27 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AB Grigeo (hereinafter referred to as “the Company”) has received Resolution No 03-43 of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania “Regarding the infringement committed by AB Grigeo” dated 13 March 2018. In executing the obligation imposed by the Supervision Service of the Bank of Lithuania, the Company hereby publishes information about the Resolution adopted by the Board of the Bank of Lithuania:
- AB Grigeo has been warned for failure to promptly make public disclose of inside information according to the requirements of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council on market abuse and Article 33 of the Law on Securities and, therefore, infringed Article 17(8) of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council on market abuse (“the Regulation”).
- Gintautas Pangonis, President of the Company, in commenting on information related to the Company, failed to comply with the prohibition established in Article 14(c) of the Regulation because, during a talk with a BNS journalist on 20 September 2017, he unlawfully disclosed the importance of an event he would discuss with the Minister of Economy and would announce through the stock exchange. The announcement of that fact, i.e. the importance of a future event, prompted investors to take investment decisions to buy shares of AB Grigeo in the morning of 21 September 2017.
- On 21 September 2017, from the beginning of the trading session at 10:00 to 14:20, the unlawful actions of the President of AB Grigeo resulted in information asymmetry, when those investors who had access to information published on the website of BNS had a clear advantage over investors who were able to use only those sources of information through which the Company was obliged to disclose inside information pursuant to the requirements of the Law on Securities and the Regulation.
- In accordance with a part of the requirements of Article 17(8) of the Regulation, when the President of the Company unlawfully disclosed inside information, AB Grigeo was required to disclose all information related to the signing of a memorandum of intent promptly, i.e. no later than by the beginning of the trading session of 21 September. Announcement of the fact that AB Grigeo and UAB Grigeo Baltwood had signed a memorandum of intent with the German company Homanit Holding GmbH regarding the sale of 100% of the shares of UAB Grigeo Baltwood was made through the news system of Nasdaq Vilnius Stock Exchange only at 14:20 on 21 September 2017; therefore, the Company failed to comply with the requirements of the part of Article 17(8) of the Regulation prescribing that in case of failure to ensure confidentiality of inside information, such information must be disclosed promptly.
The Company considers that the information disseminated by Baltic News Service (BNS) was of an abstract nature and fragmented and, therefore, did not make any significant impact on the share price change at the beginning of the trading session on 21 September 2017. In the opinion of the Company, a greater impact on the shares purchase activity and price was made by the article Popieriaus pramonės aukso amžius: laukia pakuotės brangimo banga (“The golden age of the paper industry: a packaging appreciation wave is ahead”) published in the daily newspaper Verslo Žinios on 21 September 2017, which positively featured the prospects of the paper business (link to the article: https://www.vz.lt/pramone/2017/09/21/popieriaus-pramones-aukso-amzius-laukia-pakuotes-brangimo-banga).
During the investigation, the Company actively cooperated with the Bank of Lithuania and took action to update the procedure for disclosure of inside information so that to ensure provision of information to investors in accordance with legal provision in all cases.
The Resolution of the Bank of Lithuania can be appealed against within one month from its service in accordance with procedure prescribed by the Law on Administrative Proceedings of the Republic of Lithuania. To date, the Company has not made any decision on appealing against the Resolution of the Bank of Lithuania.