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Insider trading investigated at bank linked to BC P3s
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by mike_yvr | December 27, 2008 at 09:41 am
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Hypo Real Estate (HRE), the real estate and public finance bank linked to several high profile government projects in British Columbia, is being investigated by German prosecutors for suspicion of insider trading.
UPDATE: A major feature published in the German news magazine Der Spiegel on Monday details the extent of the investigation.
The investigation is focussing on share sales that occurred before the company declared its exposure to the global financial meltdown this past fall. The offices of HRE plus the homes of several of its former managers were raided by German authorities earlier this month. It wasn't clear from the reports whether these raids are connected to the investigation into insider trading.
Last week, a group of investors filed a law suit in Germany alleging the company did not provide them with timely information about HRE's financial exposure to the credit crunch.
HRE ran into trouble when its subsidiary, Depfa Bank PLC, was unable to secure credit to meet its commitments. The German government and other banks provided HRE with am $85 billion bailout package last month.
Depfa is involved in financing three so-called public-private partnerships (P3s) in B.C.: the Royal Jubilee Hospital expansion, the Surrey Outpatient Hospital and the Golden Ears Bridge.
There are several stories posted on NowPublic -- check the tags at the bottom of this story.
German prosecutors said Saturday they have launched several investigations into suspected insider trading at troubled lender Hypo Real Estate Holding AG.
Investigators were looking at the sale of large numbers of shares in the company before it first warned of troubles during the global financial crisis, said Anton Winkler, a spokesman for Munich prosecutors.
Winkler said the inquiries started in February but declined to name any of those being investigated. German weekly Der Spiegel reported that several ex-managers as well as their family and friends were under investigation.
And this from AFP:
Troubled German property lender Hypo Real Estate is being investigated for possible insider trading, according to the weekly Der Spiegel to be published Monday.
It said prosecutors in Munich had launched an investigation in February after large sales of shares were registered just before the private bank announced a 35 percent drop in assets.
There were also suspicious movements during a liquidity crisis which hit the bank in the autumn.
The Munich-based bank, Germany's biggest victim of the global banking crisis, and its Irish subsidiary Depfa were caught up in a liquidity crunch that worsened after the US investment bank Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy in September.
It was saved from collapse by a rescue plan worked out by the German government and the country's central bank in October.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (3)
at 11:18 on December 27th, 2008
I guess this might mean even bigger tolls on the Golden Ears Bridge. God knows what it means for health care facilities though - scary stuff.
at 13:37 on December 27th, 2008
It's interesting to see the evolution of the bankrolling in private finance initiatives (PFIs in the UK, home of this model) or public-private partnerships (P3s in Canada, US). In the beginning, the consortia bidding on these public infrastructure projects included a bona fide financier. Fast forward to today - in British Columbia, for example - and the 'teams', aka consortia, that are appearing as shortlisted bidders no longer include a true financier but rather intermediaries in the form of financial advisors/experts. These 'brokers' appear to be the mechanism through which project financing will be found. One of the major arguments for utilizing PFIs was risk transfer from the public to the private sector. Will this actually be possible in light of the world's current financial crisis? It's worth paying attention to, not just for today's taxpayers but for sake of the next couple of generations.
at 13:38 on December 29th, 2008
Great <a href="http://www.rochesterhomesource.com/">Real Estate</a> post ... I found it very interesting.