Intentional violation of the obligation to publish ad hoc disclosures

BaFin imposed an administrative fine of €92,000 on a TecDAX company, which had intentionally failed to publish inside information in a timely manner. Although on the eve of the publication of the ad hoc disclosure, the Management Board considered the agreement in principle with the other party to the contract to be inside information, it did not publish this information immediately, but the following morning.

Violations of the transaction reporting requirements

BaFin imposed an administrative fine of €25,000 on an investment firm, which over a period of more than two months had failed in a negligent manner to report approximately 70,000 transactions in financial instruments to BaFin in accordance with section 9 (1) of the Securities Trading Act. The reports were not transmitted during that period because of a technical modification of the connection to the stock exchange system. The company reported the transactions only subsequently, after BaFin had contacted it. It had failed to check after its system changeover whether reports in accordance with section 9 (1) of the Securities Trading Act were still being sent to BaFin.

Violations of the voting rights notification requirements

Due to a negligent breach of its duty of oversight in connection with six violations of the voting rights notification requirement, BaFin imposed an administrative fine of €100,000. The company concerned had failed to ensure through suitable oversight measures, such as the dual control principle and adequate internal controls, that accurate voting rights notifications were provided to issuers and BaFin in a timely manner.

Violations of the Securities Acquisitions and Takeover Act

BaFin imposed an administrative fine of €17,000 on a natural person who had failed to disclose to the public in a timely manner that they had gained control over a target company. The offeror had had control over the target company for more than six months before publishing information about gaining control when prompted by BaFin.