Oleg Tinkov flew

The Bank of Russia intends to check transactions with TCS Group and Yandex shares for insider trading.
20.10.2020
Vedomosti
Origin source
On September 22, TCS Group Holding and Yandex announced that they were negotiating a possible merger. On this news, the shares of both companies rose sharply. At the same time, as analysts note, the market reacted to the announcement of the deal not quite typical. As a rule, during M&A transactions, the shares of the company being sold are actively growing, while the shares of the buyer, on the contrary, lose value. However, in the case of TCS Group and Yandex, securities of both companies reacted with rapid growth. Shares of "Yandex" on the Moscow Stock Exchange rose by more than 15% - at the maximum the value of shares rose to a record high of 5653 rubles. TCS Group's depositary receipts also renewed their all-time high, rising by 12.79% to RUB 2,165. for the paper. Thus, in a day and a half after the announcement of the deal, the total capitalization of the TCS Group and Yandex increased by more than $ 2 billion - from $ 26.1 billion to $ 28.2 billion.

And three weeks later, on October 16, it became known that the negotiations had been disrupted and the deal would not take place. Against the backdrop of this news, TCS Group shares on the Moscow Stock Exchange fell 7.1% to the level of the previous trading session, while Yandex shares fell 4.1%. As a result, on the day when it became known about the termination of negotiations, the total market capitalization of Yandex and TCS Group immediately fell by more than $ 3 billion - to $ 25 billion, that is, approximately $ 1 billion below the level that was fixed before the announcement of negotiations.

Naturally, such significant fluctuations could not pass by the Bank of Russia. “We will check in any case,” said Valery Lyakh, director of the department for combating unfair practices of the Central Bank. "This is our standard practice: we conduct a preliminary analysis of all unusual trades to identify signs of insider trading."

The regulator's interest is also fueled by rumors that appeared on October 14 that Oleg Tinkov is negotiating the sale of his bank not only with Yandex, but also with Vladimir Yevtushenkov, chairman of the board of directors of AFK Sistema. On this news, AFK Sistema's depositary receipts rose in price by 7.8% during the day (from $ 6.36 to $ 6.84), but within a day they fell to $ 6.29.

A source close to Tinkov, in an interview with Vedomosti, called the information about his negotiations with MTS Bank (part of AFK Sistema) absurd. “Neither they nor us need it,” he said. - It is clear that this was a completely planned stuffing in order to influence the market quotations of securities on the stock exchange. Therefore, the main question is who benefits from it. "

Experts interviewed by Vedomosti believe that even if suspicions of insider trading are justified, the direct participants are unlikely to have anything to do with it - from a financial point of view, it is not profitable for them. However, the confidential information could be used by top managers of any of the companies who were aware of the progress of negotiations between Tinkoff Bank and Yandex. “In my opinion, this story has a bad aftertaste, and I think that many people who are related to the stock market, including the Bank of Russia, are feeling this. insider deals, - says Alexander Baranov, director of the risk management department of IC Asset Management JSC. - The contradictory information that Tinkoff Bank is being sold to one company or to another, or not at all, should be of interest to the relevant department of the Central Bank. I also do not exclude that one of the market participants may turn to the Bank of Russia with a complaint about what is happening and ask to find out if there were any facts of manipulation and insider trading in this story ”.

Business

Previous Article
Next article