Deals
Santander Analyst Made Trades Before Bid, SEC Says
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A Banco Santander SA analyst and an accomplice illegally reaped almost $1.1 million with insider trades before BHP Billiton Ltd.’s $39 billion takeover bid for Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., U.S. regulators said.
Juan Jose Fernandez Garcia, 35, and Luis Martin Caro Sanchez, 36, used accounts at the same U.S. brokerage to buy more than $61,000 in Potash stock options days before BHP’s offer became public Aug. 17, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in documents filed Aug. 20 in federal court in Illinois. Fernandez Garcia heads the bank’s European equity derivatives research, according to the agency’s complaint.