JOHANNESBURG (Business Day) - The Financial Services Board (FSB) has not uncovered any suspicious transactions in the local equity market around the leaked bid for Gold Fields [NSYE:GFI; LSE:GOF] by American financier Edward Pastorini.
Gerhard van Deventer, executive director of the FSB's market abuse department, said on Friday he understood the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was building a case against Pastorini for making false bids in several cases in the U.S. But the Gold Fields bid was not part of the SEC's investigation.
SEC spokesman John Heine said the agency could not comment on the existence or non-existence of any investigation.
Bloomberg reported in April that Pastorini, leading a group of five gold mining companies, planned to make an offer in cash, shares and bullion dividends for Gold Fields.
Later Pastorini specified he would offer R194 (US$27.04) a share, which was a 36% premium to Gold Fields' share price at the time. But after the publicity, which sparked an investigation by the regulators into share manipulation, the offer did not materialise.
Confusion still reigns over the identity of Edward Pastorini and whether he is the same person as the man who says he is Pastorini's cousin, Theodore Roxford. Roxford has changed his name once before. Roxford re-emerged last week with e-mails to various South African media, offering to sell his story and backup documentation.
"We would need to sell these things because these people will sue us if we give you these very confidential items," Roxford said.
He said Golden Star Resources [AMEX:GSS] and DRDGold [NASDAQ:DROOD] were interested in being part of the Gold Fields deal before the Bloomberg article was published. Pastorini said he would answer all charges at the end of this month.
