Alan Lai's Cayman Islands-registered Agria Corp, which owns just over half of New Zealand rural services group PGG Wrightson (PGW), has had its shares suspended from trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) for what the exchange alleges was management's attempts to artificially inflate Agria's share price.
In a statement, Agria said it had received a letter saying that the NYSE would start proceedings to delist Agria's depositary shares and advising that trading of Agria's shares on the exchange had been suspended.
The company said it had received a request for information from the exchange on July 13 in connection with a review of the company's compliance with the NYSE's minimum price requirements and trading activity. The company said had been working with the exchange in responding to its request for information.
The NYSE also said it had uncovered evidence demonstrating that the company and its management engaged in operations "contrary to the public interest" and not in keeping with sound public policy pursuant to requirement of exchange's Listed Company Manual.
"NYSE stated that it identified evidence indicating that the company (i) through a top executive and other intermediaries engaged in trading intended to artificially inflate Agria's stock price, including to improperly avoid having the company delisted for failing to comply with NYSE's continued listing standards requiring companies to maintain an average stock price of at least US$1.000 per share over a consecutive thirty-day trading period; and (ii) provided incomplete, misleading, or false information in connection with investigations related to these issues," Agria said in a statement.