Vienna Stock Exchange has announced it has terminated its contract with Meinl European Land (MEL) to trade on the bourse's Prime Market segment. The decision came days after the country's Financial Services Authority said the company had provided misleading information about a share buyback. The exchange said that the company would instead be transferred to its 'standard market continuous' segment at the end of trading on 21 December.
Vienna Stock Exchange has announced it has terminated its contract with Meinl European Land (MEL) to trade on the bourse's Prime Market segment. The decision came days after the country's Financial Services Authority said the company had provided misleading information about a share buyback. The exchange said that the company would instead be transferred to its 'standard market continuous' segment at the end of trading on 21 December.
MEL said it was 'surprised' at the decision and regarded the termination of the Prime Market contract as 'legally unfounded'. The company had already said it would appeal the administrative verdict by the Financial Markets Authority, which said MEL had failed to disclose in an announcement calling a shareholders' meeting in August to approve a share buyback, that the company had already bought back about 52 million of its own certificates - about 20% of the total - in the first half of 2007.
In September, the Jersey-registered property company hired investment bank Merrill Lynch to come up with comprehensive measures to revamp the company's corporate structure, strategy and capital markets standards. The expected months-long review was designed 'to promote MEL's long-term development as a leading property company in Central and Eastern Europe.'
