Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has commenced legal proceedings asking the Court of First Instance to inquire into the circumstances of non-compliance by AMTD Global Markets Limited (AMTD, currently known as orientiert XYZ Securities Limited) and its former executives with the SFC’s notices in initial public offerings (IPOs)-related investigations.
The SFC’s investigations related to suspected employment of fraudulent or deceptive schemes and/or disclosure of false or misleading information in the IPOs of certain listed companies where AMTD was involved as bookrunner, lead manager and underwriter.
The former executives of AMTD, amongst others, are: Lo Chi Hang, former responsible officer (RO); Philip Yau Wai Man, former director and manager-in-charge (MIC); and See Hiu Lun, former emergency contact person and complaints officer.
The regulator issued notices to AMTD seeking records relating to, amongst other things, its work in those IPOs. However, AMTD did not fully comply with the notices.
The former executives of AMTD did not attend interviews as required after the SFC had issued them with interview notices.
If the Court is satisfied after an inquiry that AMTD and its former executives do not have any reasonable excuse for not complying with the SFC notices, it can order AMTD to produce the specified records and its former executives to attend interviews, and it can punish them as if they had been guilty of contempt of court.
