U.K.’s FCA ‘Aware’ of Carillion Insider-Dealing Allegations

(Bloomberg) -- The U.K.’s markets regulator was “aware" of allegations of insider trading in shares of Carillion Plc prior to the company’s collapse, the head of the Financial Conduct Authority said in a letter to lawmakers.

Carillion, an outsourcing company with contracts in everything from hospitals to the HS2 high-speed rail project, went out of business in January after failing to shore-up finances and get a government bailout. The builder left behind debts of about 1.6 billion pounds ($2.1 billion) after several construction deals soured.

The FCA is "looking" at the allegations, Andrew Bailey said in a July 22 letter to lawmakers. The correspondence was published by the U.K. Parliament’s Work & Pensions Select Committee Thursday, in response to a series of questions made to the FCA about the probe’s progress. Committee head Frank Field also asked if senior Carillion executives had sought immunity from any future criminal prosecution.

In a letter to the select committee, ex-Chairman Philip Green said he wanted to "make clear that neither I nor any director of Carillion sought personal immunity from criminal prosecution or any other sanction as part of any requests made to government."

The FCA is already probing the British builder over the “timeliness and content of the firm’s announcements,” specifically a July 10, 2017 profit warning that began a collapse in its share price.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeremy Hodges in London at jhodges17@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Christopher Elser, Anthony Palazzo

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