Consob claims that Nigel Bolton, portfolio manager and head of BlackRock Investment Managerment UK’s European equity team, decided to sell more than 2% of Saipem’s stock based on non-public information.
The transactions occurred between 25 and 29 January 2013, just prior to Saipem’s announcement on the 29 January that it was slashing its 2012 outlook which led Saipem’s shares to plummet by over 30%.
According to BlackRock, Bolton made the decision to sell Saipem shares based on a growing wave of negative publicly available information that was widely disseminated in the marketplace.
“The mere fact that shares were sold shortly before a profit warning is not evidence of insider trading, particularly when the information on which the trade was made was widely available in the marketplace,” the company said.
It added that BlackRock conducted a thorough investigation and found no evidence to support the allegations.
“We believe we have fully cooperated with Consob, and we will continue to do so. We look forward to working with Consob to resolve this situation. None of our clients nor any of our funds will be affected by these proceedings.”
An initial investigation was opened in February last year by the Italian regulator. Consob declined to comment on Monday.
