HDI Global SE fined for violating foreign ownership rules
HDI Global SE fined for violating foreign ownership rules
On April 16, the State Securities Commission (SSC) issued a decision to sanction administrative violations against HDI Global SE – a Germany-based corporation which is the major shareholder of Vietnamese non-life insurer PVI – due to non-compliance with information disclosure and violating foreign ownership limit rules.
HDI Global has been fined for holding a majority ownership in PVI multiple times now (Illustration photo)
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Specifically, a fine of VND125 million($5,435) is stipulated in Article 28.2 of Decree No.108/2013/ND-CP dated September 23, 2013 on administrative penalties for violations in the securities market for performing one or more transactions in order to conceal real ownership of a security in order to avoid the obligation to disclose information in accordance with regulations.
In 2017-2019, HDI Global SE made a number of transactions to conceal its real ownership of 15,468,250 shares in PVI (HNX: PVI), violating information disclosure obligations.
A fine of VND60 million ($2,600) was also imposed according to the provisions of Article 28.1a, of Decree No.108/2013/ND-CP for violating the foreign investors' ownership.
Last year, in mid-August, HDI Global SE was allegedly fined for VND125 million ($5,435) for conducting one or several transactions to obscure company ownership and avoid information disclosure responsibilities. Moreover, a fine of VND60 million ($2,600) was also imposed on the corporation for violating the FOL.
Last year, at PVI’s annual shareholders' meeting, PVI elected and replaced three members of the board, bringing total members to nine. In particular, four members are PVI representatives, while HDI and FLL representatives number five.
Jens Holger Wohlthat has been appointed as chair of the board for 2017-2022, effective since January 16, 2020.
As of January 31, 2019, HDI Global SE held a total of 126,297,216 PVI shares, of which it directly owned 83,711,071 PVI shares and indirectly owned 27,117,895 shares of PVI through Funderburk Lighthouse Ltd. and 15,468,250 shares through Sunway. Thus, HDI Global SE held a total of 54.64 per cent of the total number of voting shares in PVI, exceeding the FOL before April 19, 2019.
In addition to the above administrative fine, the SSC also requires HDI to make up for the consequences by transferring PVI shares back to reduce its ownership in accordance with the provisions of Article 28.3b of Decree No.108/2013/ND-CP.
The time limit for taking the remedial measure is 60 days from the date of receiving the sanctioning decision.
PVI is currently the largest non-life insurer in Vietnam.
