ZURICH--Switzerland's market regulator said Friday the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission has asked for assistance with an
investigation of suspicious trading conducted through a Zurich
private-wealth account just before last week's announcement of the
takeover of H.J. Heinz Co. (HNZ).
In a two-sentence statement emailed to The Wall Street Journal,
the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority confirmed "it
received a request for administrative assistance from the SEC in
the alleged insider dealings case involving the Heinz
transaction."
The statement said Finma always cooperates with the SEC on
insider investigations to the extent allowed by the law.
A spokeswoman for Finma, as the agency is commonly known,
declined to elaborate on the SEC's request.
On Friday afternoon, a U.S. federal-court judge in New York will
hold a hearing related to SEC allegations that someone made options
trades based on inside information before the announcement last
Thursday of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKA, BRKB) and private equity
group 3G Capital Inc.'s $23 billion purchase of Heinz, the famous
ketchup and mustard maker. The SEC filed a lawsuit the following
day alleging traders invested nearly $90,000 in options that would
gain in value if Heinz's share price rose, an investment that would
reap a profit of more than $1.7 million.
The trading came from an account owned by a "private wealth
client" of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) in Switzerland. Goldman
hasn't been accused of wrongdoing by the SEC and the bank has said
it is cooperating with the investigation.
The identity of the individuals behind the trade remains
unclear. Goldman informed the SEC that the bank doesn't have
"direct access" to information about who owns the account,
according to court documents made public Thursday.
A Zurich-based spokeswoman for Goldman directed inquiries to the
bank's Frankfurt office, which oversees operations in Germany,
Switzerland and Austria.
"Beyond what Goldman Sachs have said out of New York, namely
that it is fully cooperating with the U.S. authorities, we have
nothing to say," said Roland Leithaeuser, a Goldman spokesman in
Frankfurt.
Write to Neil MacLucas at Neil.MacLucas@dowjones.com
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