Wendel fully complied with reporting regulations when it was building up its stake in Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, a spokeswoman for the industrial holding group said.
Commenting on a story in daily Le…
Wendel fully complied with reporting regulations when it was building up its stake in Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, a spokeswoman for the industrial holding group said. Commenting on a story in daily Le Figaro that stock market regulator AMF is holding an inquiry into the share purchases, the spokeswoman said notifications of the crossing of regulatory thresholds in the size of Wendel“s stake were made “in good time” to Saint-Gobain and to the AMF. The newspaper, without naming sources, said the AMF has been carrying out an inquiry for “several weeks” into the conditions under which Wendel bought its stake in the construction materials group. Wendel acquired a surprise stake in Saint-Gobain in September 2007, then spent more than EUR 5 billion to build up a shareholding of more than 21% to become the company“s leading shareholder. The AMF is seeking to establish whether Wendel complied with the rules for declaring the crossing of the 5% and 10% thresholds, the newspaper said. Le Figaro said the AMF is also studying, without having opened an inquiry, the scheme that allowed Ernest-Antoine Seilliere, Wendel“s supervisory board chairman, and chief executive Bernard Lafonta, as well as 20 other managers, to acquire 4.5% of the group“s capital. The Wendel spokeswoman made no comment on that aspect of the report. In June 2008, Sophie Levine-Boegner launched a lawsuit against unknown parties to enable the market regulator to investigate the way in which the 4.5% stake ended up with the managers. Ms. Levine-Boegner has since been removed from her post as a director of the family holding company.