'Suspicious' Trading At Escom Under Review

The New York Times

July 06, 1996

Germany's Securities Trading Supervisory Office said yesterday that it was investigating possible insider trading in shares of Escom A.G., the computer retailer that filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday. The office said it noticed a surge in the number of Escom shares traded and a plunge in the share price in the weeks preceding the company's announcement.

"The turnover seen was very suspicious in comparison with previous levels," Anke Reeh-Schild, a spokeswoman for the office, said. She said that in the three weeks before Escom's announcement, trading volume in its shares was eight or nine times its previous levels. Escom, Europe's second-largest computer retailer, filed for protection from creditors after a new estimate put its 1995 losses at 180 million marks ($118.3 million), up from a March forecast of a loss of 125 million marks ($82.2 million). (Reuters)