Press release 1 March 2019

The Helsinki Administrative Court issued its decisions on appeals by Danko Koncar

By its decision issued today, the Helsinki Administrative Court rejected the appeal made by Danko Koncar to repeal the decision of the Financial Supervisory Authority obliging Koncar to launch a public bid for Afarak Group Plc shares under the penalty of a fine. The Administrative Court also mainly rejected the appeal made by Danko Koncar to repeal the decision of the Financial Supervisory Authority to order the conditional fine payable; however, the Administrative Court repealed the Financial Supervisory Authority’s decision regarding the supplementary amount of the conditional fine.

On 1 March 2019, the Helsinki Administrative Court issued a decision on the appeals made by Danko Koncar on decisions made by the Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA) in 2018. The FIN-FSA, by a decision issued on 21 February 2018, obliged Danko Koncar to launch a public bid for Afarak Group Plc shares and imposed a running conditional fine to enforce the obligations stated in the decision. On 9 July 2018, the FIN-FSA ordered Danko Koncar to pay the base amount of the conditional fine, 40,000,000 euro and the supplementary amount of 10,000,000 euro accrued by that date.

The Helsinki Administrative Court rejected the appeal made by Danko Koncar to repeal the FIN-FSA decision of 21 February 2018 obliging Koncar to launch a public bid for Afarak Group Plc shares under the penalty of a fine. The Administrative Court also rejected the appeal made by Koncar to repeal the FIN-FSA decision of 9 July 2018 to order Koncar to pay the base amount of the fine, 40,000,000 euro, since the main obligation under the decision imposing the conditional fine had not been complied with. However, the Administrative Court considered that the supplementary amount of 10,000,000 euro of the conditional fine had not accrued by the time when the appealed decision was made and therefore repealed the FIN-FSA decision regarding the supplementary amount.

The decisions are not yet legally binding. They may be appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court if it grants permission to appeal. The permission to appeal must be sought within 30 days of service of the decisions of the Administrative Court.

For further information, please contact

Sari Helminen, Head of Division and Marianne Demecs, Market Supervisor.

Requests for interviews are coordinated by FIN-FSA Communications, tel. +358 9 183 5030 (weekdays 9:00–16:00).