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- Useful FSA guidance on when shareholder activism likely to be viewed as market abuse
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The FSA has provided clarification for hedge funds on what it regards as acceptable shareholder activism and, on the other hand, what types of conduct might be deemed market abuse.
It set out the following high-level principles:
- Where an investor builds or acquires a stake on the basis of its own intentions and strategy that will not in general be regarded as market abuse
- If several investors acquire shares independently in order to help one investor avoid making a public disclosure of a large holding that could be market manipulation
- In an investor acquires shares on the basis of their knowledge of another investor’s intentions or strategy that could amount to market abuse. The person who discloses that information could also be engaging in behaviour amounting to market abuse
- There is an obvious potential for market abuse if an investor deliberately sets out to generate a false rumour knowing that others may be able to take advantage of a short term movement in the target securities
- Generally, investors must take reasonable care to ensure that any announcement or comment they make does not give false or deceptive signals about their intentions
For more information, see:
FSA Market Watch.