BVI-registered Eastern Property Holdings sentenced to a fine by SWX Regulation
Eastern Property Holdings Limited, a BVI-registered company engaged in real estate development and listed in the Real Estate Companies segment of Swiss Exchange, has to pay a fine of CHF 30,000, pronounced by the sanction commission of the SIX Swiss Exchange Ltd.
The BVI company is said to have violated the provisions governing ad hoc publicity in the publication of its 2008 semi-annual report, and have failed to fulfill its reporting requirements in a number of cases. Concerning the 2008 semi-annual report and press release related to it, the company published it during continuous trading hours, without sending notification about it to the SIX Exchange Regulation, while it is presecribed to inform of the publication 90 minutes before the public release.
The SIX Swiss Exchange Regulation also stated that Eastern Property violated its reporting requirements and did not provide the important details on the company, like its postal address and web link to enable to see ad hoc publicity notifications. The specific reporting requirements violated by the BVI company help investors to obtain information necessary of assessing the characteristics of a given security and the quality of the issuer, and are a means to ensure a properly functioning market and orderly securities trade.
The Sanction Commission took into consideration all aspects of this matter with the BVI company, as well as the fact that in 2006 it had been already fined for violating the provisions concerning the disclosure of management transactions, and imposed the CHF 30,000 fine against the company and the costs associated with the proceedings.