The president of the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), Rodrigo Buenaventura, suggested this Tuesday to Congress, as a “purely personal” opinion, that the behavior of the controversial American bearish company Gotham with its report on Grifols was more serious than that. of the Catalan pharmaceutical company, although the organization has opened disciplinary proceedings against both entities for alleged “very serious” violations of the Securities Market Law.
“The severity is not the same,” Buenaventura said, and “the proof” is that in the Gotham case the agency sent its findings to the prosecutor’s office for alleged manipulation of the Grifols stock market and a possible market abuse.
In this matter, “I am not equidistant”, because “a series of “inaccuracies in the accounts”, like those allegedly committed by Grifols, “is not the same thing as “knowingly including allegedly false information in order to sink a stock “and make money off it”, as Gotham allegedly did.
In the case of Grifols, “some inaccuracies” were detected in certain figures, information first published then omitted, and unregulated quantities, such as gross operating profit (Ebitda), which is not audited, or the debt ratio. Ebitda, which were calculated in a “non-objective manner and slightly distorted in favor of the company”.
Buenaventura indicated that publishing the beginning of the sanction file without having heard the person concerned “does not please us”, but it is something that is done “in a very exceptional way”. And “this is not the verdict”, which will be known in due time. He also stressed that the conclusions on Grifols’ accounts following the Gotham report of January 9 were known “very quickly”, in March.
The president of the CNMV mentioned without mentioning the case of the Madeira Invest Club (MIC), the financial beach bar which Alvise Pérez advertised and whose owner gave 100,000 euros in cash to the ultra MEP. He stressed that the CNMV is “by far” the European supervisor which launches the most warnings each year against entities suspected of acting without authorization.
He explained that they have issued 750 warnings in 2023 and so far in 2024, almost as many as the sum of Portugal, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Greece, of Italy and Austria. And it is “usual” that when an alleged scam occurs, the CNMV warns about it. This has happened “in many or almost all” of the investment fraud cases that have reached the National Court, including “some recent cases, with the admission of the complaints last week”, clearly referring to at MIC.
He also demanded “that the false idea that the whole mountain is oregano should not spread” with the new regulation of cryptocurrencies. Here, savers’ first 100,000 euros are not protected as is the case for bank deposits.
He indicated that the alert system “serves”, for example, to dismantle certain beach bars of this type. But out of 500 communications, a disciplinary file was opened.
During his appearance before the Congressional Economic Commission, Buenaventura denied the “fallacious” argument of excessive financial regulation in Europe. In the United States, “it’s not more lax at all.” What Europe is missing, he says, is greater personal financial investment, for example through pension funds. He also defended the independence of the organization from political power and its regulated entities.
Remains pending when BBVA’s public purchase offer for Sabadell will be approved
Regarding the purchase offer (OPA) of BBVA on Banco Sabadell, the president of the CNMV acknowledged that they were analyzing the information, the purchase brochure where the details of the operation are given, but that they were waiting for what the National Markets and Competition Commission would say. Commission (CNMC). “The rule allows us to authorize even though we have mandatory authorizations, in this case from the European Central Bank,” he said. Something BBVA already has. “We could authorize the brochure at any time” which “is in the execution, revision phase.”
The competition is still in the first phase of analyzing the impact of the integration of the two entities. “In the past, the number of OPAS where it passed into phase 2 [en CNMC] was very reduced. We will analyze how the competition authorization process evolves, from a temporal point of view, and on this basis we will monitor what is the optimal moment for the approval of the prospectus,” he said.
Fundamentally, Buenaventura believes that “legitimate goals come into conflict.” On the one hand, “the right of shareholders to receive the offer in order to decide on it. There, we have the mandate to approve public purchase offers as quickly as possible.” The other, “if the competitive conditions change a lot in the resulting group, in this case, the vision of the shareholders to form a judgment would be very different. You have to evaluate and monitor to decide, once the brochure is complex,” he summarized.
There are also questions about whether BBVA’s relationship with former Commissioner Villarejo has an impact on the takeover bid, following a question from Sumar’s economic spokesperson in Congress, Carlos Martín Urriza. “If the accusation could have criminal consequences and this represents a risk for the investor”, asked the president of the CNMV, “it could lead to risks which are important not so much in the context of the takeover bid, but because it is a listed bank and shareholders Today, they have the right to know how this process takes place and its risks “The question arises whether the public offer of. purchase should be suspended, this same argument would lead us to suspend the listing. In my opinion, this would be inappropriate.
