SEC Looks Into Insider Trading

At the request of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, a judge has frozen the assets of three firms suspected of insider trading just before the July 11 announcement that Lonza would acquire Arch Chemicals (C&EN, July 18, page 9). Between July 5 and July 8, SEC charges, Compania International Financiera, Coudree Capital Gestion, and Chartwell Asset Management Services purchased more than 1 million common shares of Arch. After July 11, the firms began selling the shares “for millions of dollars in profits,” SEC alleges. The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, claims the firms were in possession of material, nonpublic information about the Lonza acquisition.