Ministry opens probe into Sulzer investors
The Swiss finance ministry has opened criminal proceedings against three investors in the Sulzer engineering group, including Russian oligarch, Viktor Vekselberg.
The ministry said there was “sufficient indication” that Vekselberg, together with Austrian investors Ronny Pecik and Georg Stumpf, had acted in concert and broken stock exchange rules in building up their stake in the group between November 2006 and April 2007.
Vekselberg, who holds a controlling 31 per cent stake in Sulzer through his investment arm Renova after buying the stakes from Pecik and Stumpf, denies that he or Renova broke any laws.
Pecik and Stumpf sold their stake in Sulzer to Renova in 2007.
A Sulzer spokeswoman said the group was examining the case’s implications.
The finance ministry said it would report on the matter again only after the conclusion of the proceedings, which it expects to be lengthy because of the complexity of the investigation.
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