ABN Amro Fined EU25,000 in World Online Share Sale, Paper Says
Amsterdam, March 15 (Bloomberg) -- ABN Amro Holding NV, the largest Dutch bank, is being fined more than 25,000 euros ($22,000) by Dutch securities watchdog AFM for its role in the initial share sale of World Online International NV, Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad reported.
The securities regulator is also planning to ``publicly shame'' the Amsterdam-based bank with an advertisement announcing the fine, the newspaper said, citing unidentified sources. ABN Amro spokesman Robin Boon declined to comment.
The AFM has had the power since 2000 to fine companies that violate stock exchange rules, though so far only one fine has been announced publicly, the newspaper said.
ABN Amro Rothschild, a joint venture between the Dutch bank and London-based N.M. Rothschild & Sons Ltd., and Goldman Sachs & Co. co-managed the share sale of the Dutch Internet company in March 2000. The stock lost about two-thirds of its value in the months after the sale before World Online was bought by Italy's Tiscali SpA in September 2000.
Shareholders complained the banks should have explained more explicitly in the prospectus that World Online's founder, Nina Brink, sold part of her stake in the company in Dec. 1999 at $6.04 a share, 85 percent below the issuing price in the public offering three months later. |
