Colombia’s financial regulator has ruled out any wrongdoing by traders or investors during the sudden drop of EEB share prices in December.
The investigation was sparked after Bogota’s state-owned electricity company EEB’s share price dropped by 17% in three days.
The fall followed an announcement by Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro that a planned merger between EEB and Bogota’s state-owned telecommunications and water companies, ETB and EAB — a merger that was one of his manifesto promises — would go ahead.
The financial regulatory body said “An investigation was carried with the aim of corroborating or ruling out the possibility of abusive conduct in the market in relation to the negotiating of ordinary shares of the Empresa de Energia de Bogota S.A. during the days December 5, 6 and 7, 2011.”
The financial regulator analyzed 998 transactions made by approximately 538 investors through 21 brokerage firms. Almost 34 million shares were sold for a total of $21.2 million.
Petro, meanwhile, is to be investigated by the Prosecutor General’s Office for allegedly committing the financial crime of “giving false or incorrect information which affects the value of shares.”