A commercial court has accepted a request by Spanish seafood processor Pescanova for voluntary receivership but, unusually, has ordered the removal of the chairman of the company, Manuel Fernández de Sousa, and the rest of the management board from their positions and has appointed the National Securities Commission (CNMV) to take charge.
The CNMV has sent a report to the state prosecutor’s office on possible insider trading activity by Fernández de Sousa, who sold half of his stake in Pescanova shortly before the company made known that its debt was much more than had been officially declared in its accounts.
The CNMV now has the option to take over the reins of Pescanova itself or appoint someone else to do so.