Insider share dealing may have taken place ahead of almost a quarter of company takeover deals in 2005, despite new rules aimed at combating market abuse, a financial services watchdog said today.
In research published today, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in Britain said it found "informed trading" ahead of 23.7 per cent of takeover announcements in 2005, below 32.4 per cent the year before. The absolute number rose, however, as the number of deals soared from 102 in 2004 to 177 in 2005, the year the current mergers and acquisitions boom took off.
The 2005 proportion was also little changed from 24 percent in 2000 - before new market abuse regulations were brought in under the Financial Services and Markets Act.
"The figures for takeover announcements, although moving in the right direction, remain a cause for particular concern, and there will be no let-up in our efforts to tackle the problems in this area," Sally Dewar, director of the FSA's Markets Division, said in a statement.
Major UK deals in 2005 - a year of heated M&A activity ahead of a record 2006 - included Dubai Ports World's 3.3 billion pound bid for ports operator P&O and Australian bank Macquarie's failed 1.5 billion pound bid for the London Stock Exchange.
The FSA, which did not provide details of 2005 deals it considered to have been preceded by insider dealing, is separately carrying out a review on information leaks ahead of takeover deals.