The Sanction Commission Of The SIX Swiss Exchange Ltd Has Fined Eastern Property Holdings Limited

The SIX Swiss Exchange Ltd has pronounced a fine of CHF 30,000 against Eastern Property Holdings Limited, which is domiciled in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. The company violated the provisions governing ad hoc publicity on the occasion of the publication of its 2008 semi-annual report. In addition, there have been a number of cases in which the company failed to fulfill its reporting requirements (i.e. the lack of notification regarding data that must be disclosed).

Eastern Property Holdings Limited (“Eastern Property”), which is listed in the Real Estate Companies segment of the SIX Swiss Exchange Ltd, published its 2008 semi-annual report and related press release during continuous trading hours without having notified the SIX Swiss Exchange Ltd (SIX Exchange Regulation) of the publication, as prescribed, 90 minutes prior to the public release of the information. SIX Exchange Regulation requires that time to, under certain circumstances, order a trading halt in the shares. If such a publication takes place outside normal hours that are critical to trading (i.e. between 5:30 pm and 7:30 am), it is not necessary to inform the Exchange in advance that the announcement will be made.

Eastern Property also on various occasions violated its reporting requirements vis-à-vis SIX Exchange Regulation by not having provided the key details on the company, such as its updated contact coordinates of the person responsible for fulfilling ad hoc publicity requirements and reporting obligations; this in addition to the company’s failure to provide SIX Exchange Regulation with its postal address and Web link to enable to see ad hoc publicity notifications. SIX Exchange Regulation, which bears responsibility for the surveillance of compliance with the ad hoc reporting requirements, was therefore not in a position to contact directly the employee in charge.

In its decision, the Sanction Commission ruled that, even when an issuer delegates the fulfillment of its obligations to third parties, it must be held accountable for any shortcomings in its organization, as well as any inappropriate actions (or lack of appropriate actions) on the part of its employees.

Thus the company violated the provisions of the Listing Rules pertaining to ad hoc publicity and reporting requirements. Those specific requirements aid the investor in his/her ability to obtain the information necessary for assessing the characteristics of a given security as well as the quality of the issuer. Moreover, they are intended as a means of ensuring a properly functioning market as well as problem-free and orderly securities trading. One of the tasks of SIX Exchange Regulation is to enforce the regulations adopted by the Regulatory Board and imposed on issuers. If an issuer breaches the related obligations, a sanction can be pronounced, whereby the degree of fault and severity of the breach are taken into account when arriving at such a decision.

Under consideration of all aspects of this matter, as well as the fact that the company already in 2006 was fined for violating the provisions governing the disclosure of management transactions, the Sanction Commission has imposed a fine of CHF 30,000 against Eastern Property; the costs associated with the proceeding were charged to the company.

Information on ad hoc publicity requirements and on reporting requirements can be accessed at:

Previous sanctions issued in the area of ad hoc publicity requirements and in the area of reporting requirements can be accessed at: