ernstmik asked: "Why would a company seek to have its stock de-listed from a foreign exchange?"
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TMF's "Naked Shorting in Berlin"
www.fool.com/News/mft/2004/mft04062514.htm?source=mpmftlistBy Rich Duprey
June 25, 2004
Article includes:
..."Despite sounding like the scene from a risque, smoke-filled cabaret, hundreds of companies are finding themselves set up to be the victims of a naked shorting scam on a small and, until recently, unheard-of German bourse, the Berlin-Bremen Stock Exchange."...
..."Until the Securities and Exchange Commission began cracking down on the practice of naked short selling, Canada was a prime location for these operations. Now they've apparently moved overseas to Germany, to the Berlin-Bremen Stock Exchange. In fact, Investors Business Daily has said that a single broker at market-maker Berliner Freiverkehr is primarily responsible for listing hundreds of companies on the bourse without their knowledge."...
..."Companies have been demanding that their stocks be removed from the German exchange in droves. For the most part, the bourse has complied, but it takes into account how long the shares have been trading there, whether they are also listed on other exchanges, and whether the listing standards in the company's home market are similar to those of Berlin-Bremen. It, of course, denies any wrongdoing."...
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Also see: long article, "StockGate: The Tune May Have Changed, But the Song is the Same"
www.investors.com/breakingnews.asp?journalid=21811303&brk=1Article includes:
..."Berliner Freiverkehr (Aktien) AG has been singled out as the broker and market maker that has been "listing" the companies. It is ..."suspected that one broker, RA Angsar Limprecht, is involved in all if not most of the listings.
Small public companies are squeezed not only by hedge funds, naked short sellers, overseas listers such as the Berlin Stock Exchange, and the out-of-control "Stock Borrow Program" run by the governance-conflict-laden Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation, but to the amazement of the industry, as often and not by their own regulators. "...
..."an extensive list of publicly traded companies in the United States whose stock has been listed on the Berlin-Bremen Stock Exchange without prior knowledge, consent or authorization, and has subsequently notified the authorities at the Berlin-Bremen Stock exchange to immediately de-list and cease trading"...
..."the belief of many of the companies that have been listed without consent that the listings appear to be part of an effort by domestic and foreign brokers to circumvent the recent NASD and SEC restrictions against 'naked short selling.' Such practices may allow for market manipulation by selling non-existent shares of stock in an effort to force the price down."...
..."FinancialWire has reported on the disclosure that "Dateline," the investigatory TV program aired by General Electric's NBC unit, has purportedly been preparing a blockbuster expose of "Stockgate" (see separate story at http://www.financialwire.net). It is not known if "Dateline" has uncovered continuing underworld connections to the scandal, but FinancialWire reported that Dateline may be pointing a large finger of conflict at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission itself,"...
..."Berliner Freiverkehr (Aktien) AG has been singled out as the broker and market maker that has been "listing" the companies. It is suspected that one broker, RA Angsar Limprecht, is involved in all if not most of the listings. Small public companies are squeezed not only by hedge funds, naked short sellers, overseas listers such as the Berlin Stock Exchange, and the out-of-control "Stock Borrow Program" run by the governance-conflict-laden Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation, but to the amazement of the industry, as often and not by their own regulators. "...
