Weekly newsletter - year XXIX - No. 24 - July 3, 2023 - CONSOB AND ITS ACTIVITIES
Asset Publisher
Newsletter
News of the week:
Watch for scams! Financial fraud: Consob blacks out 5 more abusive websites
ePrice Spa: green light to trade new shares after conversion of a POC
INVESTOR PROTECTION WARNINGS FROM OTHER REGULATORY AUTHORITIES
- NEWS OF THE WEEK -
Consob has ordered the black-out of 5 new websites that offer financial services illegally.
The commission availed itself of the new powers resulting from the "Decreto Crescita" ("Growth Decree"; Law no. 58 of 28 June 2019, Article 36, paragraph 2-terdecies), on the basis of which Consob can order internet service providers to block access from Italy to websites offering financial services without the proper authorisation.
Below are the sites Consob has ordered to be blacked out:
- Binetrix (https://binetrix.com website);
- Bitbinx (https://bitbinx.com website and its https://trade.bitbinx.com page);
- E-trade (https://www.e-trade.cc website and its https://client.e-trade.cc page);
- The Active Trades Ltd (website https://theactivetrades.com);
- FX Modex (https://fxmodex.com website and its https://client.fxmodex.com and https://webtrader.fxmodex.com pages);
The number of sites blacked out since July 2019, when Consob was given the power to order the black-out of websites of fraudulent financial intermediaries, has thus risen to 919.
The measures adopted by Consob can be consulted on the website www.consob.it.
The black-out of these websites by internet service providers operating on Italian territory is ongoing. For technical reasons, it can take several days for the black-out to come into effect.
Consob draws investors' attention to the importance of adopting the greatest diligence in order to make informed investment choices, adopting common sense behaviours, essential to safeguard one's savings: these include, for websites that offer financial services, checking in advance that the operator with whom you are investing is authorised, and, for offers of financial products, that a prospectus has been published.
To this end, Consob would remind you that on the website www.consob.it there is a section on the homepage, "Watch for Scams!", providing useful information to warn investors against financially abusive initiatives.
Consob has approved the prospectus for the admission to trading on Euronext Milan of ePrice Spa shares resulting from a reserved capital increase to service the conversion of a Convertible Debenture Loan (POC) entered into with the investment fund Negma on 16 March 2023.
Until 30 June 2022, ePrice operated in e-commerce through its subsidiary ePrice Operations Srl, specialised in the online sale of high-tech products in the large household appliances segment. Due to the bankruptcy of ePrice Operations, declared by the Court of Milan on 30 June 2022, the issuer is a dormant company, without a business plan nor are there any industrial agreements to start new operations.
The prospectus shows the elements of risk associated with the issuer's economic and financial position and the uncertainties related to the company's ability to continue as a going concern. The POC entered into with Negma on 16 March 2023 represents the only measure identified by the issuer in the context of its restructuring agreements to raise financial resources and strengthen the company's capital.
ePrice is subject to additional reporting requirements on a monthly basis, as well as being obliged to supplement its periodic financial statements with some information, pursuant to Article 114, paragraph 5, of Legislative Decree No. 58/98. At the date of the prospectus, the company was in a position of significant economic and financial strain characterised by overdue payables, equity deficit and negative results. The company needs to find financial resources both to pay creditors and to finance investments that will enable it to start a new business. For this purpose, ePrice will need additional, and as yet unidentified, financial resources in addition to those from the POC. This is taking into account the time constraints related to the subscription of the POC tranches and the due date of the investment (September 2024).
The share capital of the issuer amounts to 7,194,234.98 euro and is represented by 392,412,749 ordinary shares with no face value designation. The persons holding 5% or more of the share capital represented by shares with voting rights are Pietro Boroli (9.48%) and Ugo Colombo (5.81%); the issuer is therefore not controlled by law by any natural person or legal entity.
On 27 April 2021, the Extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting resolved to increase the share capital pursuant to Article 2420-bis, paragraph 2 of the Italian Civil Code, in divisible form, with the exclusion of a stock option, by a maximum amount of 10 million euro including the share premium (increased to 22 million euro on 28 April 2022), through the issuance of ordinary shares to service the conversion of the bonds resulting from the ePrice 2021-2023 convertible debenture loan (POC), with the same dividend entitlement and the same characteristics as the ePrice ordinary shares outstanding on the issue date, with a final conversion deadline of 30 June 2023 (extended to 30 September 2024).
The supervisory authorities of Ireland (Central Bank of Ireland), United Kingdom (Financial Conduct Authority - FCA), Spain (Comision Nacional del Mercado de Valores - CNMV), Germany (BaFin - Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht), France (Autorité des marchés financiers – Amf) and Luxembourg (Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier - CSSF), report the companies and websites offering investment, financial, banking and insurance services without the required authorisations.
Reported by the Central Bank of Ireland – Ireland:
- Graham Finance;
- Money Finance t/a Round Finance
- Irish Life Investment Managers Limited (clone of a licensed company).
Reported by the Financial Conduct Authority - United Kingdom:
- Mebitstock (www.mebistock.com);
- Denoxtrade (www.denoxtrade.com);
- Idencotrade (www.idencotrade.com).
Reported by the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores - Spain:
- Tsa Forex (https://tsaforex.com);
- Bloomhf (www.bloomhf.com);
- Ced Capital Ltd (www.cedcapitalltd.com);
- Crypto Master Trade (https://www.cryptomastertrade.cc);
- Eu Finance (https://eufinance.co/);
- Fcf Markets Ets Ecc Corp Llc (ttps://fcfmarkets.com);
- Gainful Markets (https://gainfulmarkets.com);
- Lecs Crypto (https://cryptolecs.com);
- Leveled Up Society (https://leveledupsociety.com);
- Panpacific Capital Group Ltd (https://www.pc-fx.org);
- Piu Trading (https://piutrading.com);
- Plataforma JPX (https://jpxvip.com/p/pc);
- Profit Cinda Limited (ttps://www.profitfx.net);
- Swissiam Mega Gold Serves Ltd (https://swisssfx.com).
Reported by BaFin - Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht - Germany:
- Performance to Go Plc;
- Ecological Technologies Ltd.
Reported by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier – Luxembourg:
- 4x/ Cixx Llc (https://4x.fm);
- Leros Investissements Financiers Sa (www.leros-invest.lu);
- Virmont Sa (formerly Alken Luxembourg Sa).
The French authority Autorité des marchés financiers - Amf is warning the public about fraudulent offers in forex and crypto assets made by Immediate Connect.
- COMMISSION DECISIONS - taken or made public during the week (all documents are available only in Italian
- The prospectus for the admission to trading on Euronext Milan of the ePrice Spa shares resulting from a reserved capital increase to service the conversion of a convertible debenture loan has been approved (decision of 28 June 2023);
- The information note on the programme for the offering to the public and/or listing of bonds issued by Banco BPM Spa has been approved (decision of 28 June 2023).
Order, pursuant to art. 7-octies, letter b) of Italian Legislative Decree no. 58 of 24 February 1998 (Consolidated Law on Finance) to cease infringement of art. 18 of Consolidated Law on Finance, put in place by:
- Binetrix via the https://binetrix.com website (resolution no. 22759 of 28 June 2023);
- Bitbinx via the https://bitbinx.com website and its https://trade.bitbinx.com page (resolution no. 22762 of 28 June 2023);
- E-trade via the https://www.e-trade.cc website and its https://client.e-trade.cc page (resolution no. 22763 of 28 June 2023);
- The Active Trades Ltd via the https://theactivetrades.com website (resolution no. 22761 of 28 June 2023);
- FX Modex via the https://fxmodex.com website and its https://client.fxmodex.com and https://webtrader.fxmodex.com pages (resolution no. 22760 of 28 June 2023).