Finansinspektionen (the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority) made an order on 12 April 2012 requiring Rottneros to pay a charge of SEK 200,000 for violating the provisions on publication of changes to share capital. Rottneros has appealed against this decision to the Stockholm Administrative Court.
The provisions concerned aim to ensure that no shareholder might be put at risk of breaching the flagging obligation, which can arise in the event of changes to a company’s share structure without the owner themself having taken any action by a purchase or sell. This may for instance occur as a result of a share issue.
Rottneros claims that the formal error that was committed by the company, that it had not published the number of outstanding shares on the last date of trading in the month, could not have entailed any problems for the company’s shareholders, as those who could have been affected by the flagging obligation were not only very well informed about the changes that were made but they were in fact also participative in the negotiations that led to the changes to the share structure. Rottneros has also on a number of occasions and in various ways informed the market of the changes when they were planned and subsequently when implemented.
Rottneros is consequently of the opinion that full leniency should be granted for the special charge for the violation or that it should be reduced to a minimum.