DLRP Today received several emails last month questioning why Euro Disney SCA’s share price had suddenly rocketed from €4.39 to as high as €9.05, its highest price since June 2008, in just the space of around 10 days. And it seems us Disneyland Paris fans weren’t the only ones to think it just a little odd. As The Telegraph reports, the sudden price spike will now be investigated by France’s stock exchange watchdog, the Financial Markets Authority (Autorité des Marchés Financiers). Christian Sylt writes, “Its share price jumped 17pc on the positive first quarter results and, defying expectations, continued to climb with the trading volume following suit. In one session 13pc of the company changed hands, which led to speculation of a takeover or that the shares would be delisted and bought back by the Walt Disney Company. Both suggestions seem to be wrong.”
The Telegraph cites a source close to the investigation as suggesting it has raised suspicions of “classic market abuse”. “The volumes traded reached more than 50 times normal levels on some days last month and this led to the AMF putting the share under watch. According to the source, it was then put under investigation earlier this week ‘in order to see what is going on’. A spokesman for the AMF declined to comment, and one Paris-based analyst said: ‘I don’t know why the shares have gone up and the company doesn’t know either.'” Euro Disney SCA, the operating company behind Disneyland Paris, is 39.8% owned by The Walt Disney Company and 10% by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed with the remaining 50.2% shares publicly traded on the Paris Euronext stock exchange.
