Norwegian Finanstilsynet imposes NOK 140,000 penalty on Yiheng Capital Management for late net short position notifications

Norwegian Finanstilsynet has issued a decision imposing a violation penalty of NOK 140,000 on Yiheng Capital Management, L.P. for breaching the notification obligation for net short positions under section 3-5 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act and Articles 5 and 9 of Regulation (EU) No 236/2012 (Short Selling Regulation). The case concerns four net short positions in Autostore Holdings LTD (AUTO) admitted to trading on Euronext Oslo Børs, where Finanstilsynet is the competent authority. The positions (0.2%, 0.3%, 0.5% and 0.6% of issued share capital) were reported after the SSR deadline, by between one and four trading days, and the 0.5% and 0.6% positions were consequently also disclosed to the market late. Yiheng attributed the delays to discrepancies between its internal tracking system and broker and administrator records, but Finanstilsynet found the breaches could have been prevented through functioning procedures and assessed the conduct as negligent; it also rejected Yiheng’s request to withhold the firm’s name, stating the decision will be published. The decision can be appealed within three weeks of receipt to the Financial Supervisory Appeals Board via Finanstilsynet. If not appealed, the Norwegian National Collection Agency will issue a payment claim after the appeal deadline, with a three-week payment deadline from invoicing; if appealed, collection follows the appeal outcome.