Regulator sees no ‘irregularity’ in purchase of 0.24% of CTT from Parpública

Portugal’s capital markets supervisor the CMVM says there is no “irregularity” in the purchase of 0.24% of Portuguese postal service CTT by State public holding Parpública.

The CMVM says the purchase of listed shares is “legitimate” since they represent less than 5% of CTT’s total shares and Parpública was not obliged to reveal that it had shares up to that percentage.
The purchase of the shares in the company representing 0.24% of its capital was made by Parpública in 2021 but was only revealed publicly this week.
According to ECO online, the CMVM stated: “The purchase of shares in listed companies is legitimate and providing the (purchase) does not exceed the limit of 5% of the capital of Correios, the Sate holding did not have to divulge (the purchase).
However, the purchase of the shares has caused a furore among the opposition parties in the Portuguese parliament because the government failed to inform parliament of the purchase which may contravene parliamentary rules and the public interest.
The caretaker Prime Minister, António Costa has justified the purchase of the shares and says that the new leader of the PS socialist party, Pedro Nuno Santos, who will lead the party into the elections on March 10, was also in agreement that the State needed to safeguard the State’s position in fulfilling the CTT privatisation contract.
“Obviously I knew and agree with what was done” said Pedro Nuno Santos in statements in parliament on Wednesday, although adding that he had not been involved in the shares purchase.
The General-Secretary of the PS party and former Infrastructures minister also said that the privatisation process was “disastrous” and “damaged the interests of the State” and that the “State’s shareholding in CTT would enable it to ensure that the contract was met”.
Pedro Nuno Santos also said in parliament on Thursday that the purchase of the shares had nothing to do with “gaining (political) leverage” in negotiations over the State Budget at the time with the left-wing Bloco de Esquerda and PCP (Portuguese Communist Party) coalition.