Offers International Investors Easy Access
to Participation
The Asociacion de Afectados de Petrobras, a Madrid-based
shareholder association; International Securities Associations
& Foundations Management Company for Damaged Petrobras
Investors (Bolsa Madrid) Ltd. (“ISAF Petrobras”); and a coalition
of international law firms, including Cremades Calvo-Sotelo, Motley
Rice, and Lowey Dannenberg Cohen & Hart, announce that they
have prepared a substantial criminal complaint against Petroleo
Brasileiro SA, certain Petrobras group entities and (formerly)
high-ranking Petrobras officers (collectively, “Petrobras et al”)
and intend to file it in Criminal Court in Madrid in the coming
weeks.
The complaint will be filed on behalf of all Petrobras investors
who bought shares through Bolsa de Madrid (LATIBEX index) and all
investors who bought shares through BOVESPA in Sao Paulo but
brought back those shares to Spain clearing through Iberclear and
kept and custodied the shares in Spain thereafter, and suffered
losses as a result of the allegedly long-running fraud perpetrated
by Petrobras et al. Petrobras is majority-owned by the Brazilian
government.
The complaint will allege that when years of complex fraud and
bribery schemes orchestrated by management and officials of
Petrobras were finally revealed to the public in 2014, investors
lost billions of dollars, euros and Brazilian reals, resulting from
significant asset write-downs and precipitous declines in Petrobras
share prices.
Petrobras shares are listed on the BOVESPA in Sao Paulo and
became subject to compliance with European regulatory standards
when Petrobras made its shares available for trading and clearing
via LATIBEX on Bolsa Madrid and Iberclear, respectively, and
subjected itself to compliance with the Comision Nacional del
Mercado de Valores (“CNMV”), the regulatory body of Spanish
financial markets. The CNMV is a member of and subject to the
regulations of the European Securities and Markets Authority.
Petrobras specifically desired access to investors in European
and other international capital markets and promoted itself to
them. To increase investors’ confidence, it declared its expected
compliance with a well-developed European market regulation system
and its willingness to be governed by it.
Whether the Petrobras shares are trading in Brazil or Europe,
the security identifiers for both the common and preferred shares
are in fact the same in each jurisdiction. Shares can be
transferred back and forth for custody between Brazil and Europe as
a result of the CNMV regulatory framework and the arrangement via
Iberclear in Spain.
Efforts are underway to recover investor losses related to the
revelations of allegations of rampant corruption, money laundering,
bribery and violations of securities laws in multiple
jurisdictions. The first investor lawsuit was filed as a class
action in the United States on behalf of investors who purchased
American Depository Shares on the New York Stock Exchange, but is
limited to only cover losses in those ADS shares and certain US
dollar denominated bonds. Importantly, this US class action does
not cover investor losses that stem from the largest class of
shares, which traded on the BOVESPA or LATIBEX, and it will not
cover losses on certain other bonds, including Euro denominated
bonds.
Goals of the Legal Action & How to Recover Losses
Spain’s legal framework does not have the concept of a
securities class action as it exists in the United States. Damaged
Petrobras investor plaintiffs seeking financial recovery must enter
or “opt-in” to the collective litigation to be entitled to
participate in any settlement or litigation-related proceeds.
Additional goals of the collective litigation include increasing
the level of influence of independent directors and safeguarding
the interest of all stakeholders through improvement in compliance
standards and control measures, to a level normally expected by
international institutional investors. It is important that
investors (a) who purchased common and preferred shares of
Petrobras anytime between 2004 and July 28, 2015 and (b) suffered
and/or are in danger of suffering (further) damages as a
consequence of the alleged fraud, contact ISAF Petrobras so that it
can determine eligibility to pursue claims in the Spanish court
system. Eligible damaged investors can join Asociacion de Afectados
de Petrobras with no upfront cost or risk.
About the Shareholder Association
Association Organizers. The Asociacion de Afectados de
Petrobras, a Madrid-based shareholder association, has appointed
ISAF Petrobras to interact with investors, law firms, service
providers, and media and to undertake all administrative tasks,
including the collection of client trading data, loss calculations,
loss certification, and all aspects of documentation handling. In
addition, ISAF Petrobras will finance all litigation costs,
including legal fees, experts’ fees, processing, data collection,
administration, and claims administration, including potential
payout administration. Apart from this Spanish association, an
affiliate of ISAF Petrobras – International Securities Associations
& Foundations Management Company for Damaged Petrobras
Investors (Bovespa) Ltd. – is fully funding all efforts by
Stichting Petrobras Compensation Foundation, a Dutch-based
foundation, to pursue restitution for damaged investors.
Law Firms. Cremades Calvo-Sotelo, the pre-eminent Spanish
securities law firm, is cooperating with securities litigation
firms Motley Rice and Lowey Dannenberg Cohen & Hart.
Cremades & Calvo-Sotelo is considered one of Spain’s leading
law firms, specializing, amongst other fields, in collective
securities actions. Motley Rice is one of the largest plaintiffs’
litigation firms in the United States, with a tradition of
representing those whose rights have been violated. Lowey
Dannenberg Cohen & Hart focuses its practice on complex
litigation, including securities and commodities litigation,
antitrust litigation and healthcare litigation.
Claims Analysis and Processing. Battea Class Action Services,
LLC, an international leader in the class action securities claims
filing space, has been retained to collect client data and process
and validate investor loss calculations.
Damaged investors are offered a “success only” contingency fee
cost structure. By accepting the contingency fees, the damaged
investors are offered a no-risk and upfront cost-free participation
(“no cure - no pay”).
For more information, please visit
www.isafpetrobras.com
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Investor Access InformationISAF, London, UK+44 203 769
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NL+31 102 680 138orISAF, Madrid, ES+34 910 602
178Info@isafpetrobras.comorMedia Access InformationISAF,
Stamford, CT, USAPeter Hansen,
+1-203-252-3378media@isafpetrobras.com