The Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) announced the settlement today. Leroy has to pay 107,841.01 euros, to be precise.
The offense occurred when Leroy was still the top woman at Proximus, a Belgian telecom operator. She sold a large package of Proximus shares worth EUR 285,342.40.
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Negotiations with KPN
Leroy already knew at that time that she was conducting advanced negotiations with KPN to become CEO there. This would therefore mean that she would retire as CEO of Proximus and that is price-sensitive information for the Proximus share, according to the FMSA.
It is forbidden to act on the basis of that kind of knowledge if it has not been made public. You then have an unfair advantage over other investors.
The settlement with the FMSA could be reached because Leroy cooperated with the investigation. The settlement has yet to be approved by a Belgian judge.
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Not appointed
Leroy eventually did not become a CEO at KPN because the supervisory board members canceled it because of the investigation into possible insider trading.
It would be unclear how long the investigation would take and what the outcome would be. That was not in the interest of KPN and the shareholders, according to the supervisory directors at the time.
KPN was looking for a new CEO last fall, because Maximo Ibarra dropped out after two years. Joost Farwerck is now the CEO of KPN.
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