Avatar s.p.a.

Pursuant to Article 99.1a) of Legislative Decree 58/1998, Consob has ordered the precautionary suspension for 90 days of the public offering of "dhanas" being made by Avatar s.p.a. (Resolution 14422 of 13 February 2003).

The order is based on the findings of the investigation of the websites www.dhana.it, www.asmad.it, www.dhura.it and www.secure.alicom.com, which describe the issue of the currency of the "Republic of the Earth", which is called the "dhana".

The information gathered indicates that the characteristics of the operation being carried out by Avatar are of an essentially financial nature, given the existence of the elements typical of a financial investment such as the use of capital, expectations of a return and a related risk. Dhanas can therefore be classified as financial products within the meaning of Article 1.1u) of Legislative Decree 58/1998.

Dhanas are not free and have to be bought by paying 312 euros for 100 dhanas. They can also be converted into shares or capital parts of the entities that guarantee them, just as such shares and capital parts can be converted into dhanas. Accordingly, the investment proposed in the offer of dhanas concerns, albeit indirectly, shares or capital parts of companies. Moreover, the promotion of the dhana on the above-mentioned websites is by its nature a public offering insofar as it is aimed at an indeterminate number of potential investors consisting of all those who have access to the Internet.

Taken together, the information gathered indicated that there was a well-founded suspicion that the operation being carried out by Avatar was aimed at the subscription of financial products and therefore, according to the definition in Article 1.1t) of Legislative Decree 58/1998, amounted to a public offering. Since Consob has no record of having received either due notice of such a public offering or the prospectus to be published, as required by Article 94.1 of Legislative Decree 58/1998, there are grounds for believing that the operation is in violation of the statutory and regulatory provisions governing the solicitation of investors. (In Consob Informa n. 7/2004 - 16 February 2004)