Press release
Sinovac Comments on SEC Findings Against Jiaqiang "Chiang" Li and 1Globe Capital
SEC Order found Li and 1Globe Violated SEC Rules and Federal Securities Laws by Failing to Disclose Key Facts regarding their Holdings of Sinovac
About this update from Sinovac Biotech, Ltd.
[{"type":"text","content":"\nSEC Order found Li and 1Globe Violated SEC Rules and Federal Securities Laws by Failing to Disclose Key Facts regarding their Holdings of Sinovac\n\n BEIJING--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nSinovac Biotech Ltd. (NASDAQ:SVA) (“Sinovac” or the “Company”), a leading provider of biopharmaceutical products in China, announced that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) charged activist investor, Jiaqiang \"Chiang\" Li and his firm 1Globe Capital LLC (“1Globe”) based on their failure to disclose the full amount of Sinovac shares they beneficially owned and their participation in an activist plan to replace the majority of Sinovac’s Board of Directors. In the SEC order, the agency found that Li and 1Globe violated United States federal securities laws and SEC rules requiring individuals or entities whose total ownership of a company’s stock exceeds certain thresholds to disclose their ownership, intention to acquire additional shares, and plans regarding changes in company management or control. Li and 1Globe agreed to the entry of the SEC’s order without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings of violations and agreed to pay civil penalties totaling $290,000.\n\n\nThe SEC’s findings align with both the factual findings of Sinovac’s Board in triggering the Company’s Rights Agreement and with previous findings by the High Court of Justice of Antigua and Barbuda, where Sinovac and 1Globe are engaged in ongoing litigation. For example, the High Court of Justice of Antigua and Barbuda previously determined that there was a secret plan in advance of Sinovac’s annual general meeting to take control of the Company, thereby depriving the Company’s shareholders of the opportunity to make an informed decision when casting their votes. Likewise, the SEC found that, “Li and 1Globe participated in an activist plan to replace four of five incumbent directors through a shareholder vote at Sinovac’s 2018 annual shareholder meeting in Beijing but failed to disclose material information that is required in a Schedule 13D.” Part of the undisclosed activist plan to take control of Sinovac’s Board was putting one of Li’s relatives on the Board.\n\n\nThe SEC also found that the participants in the activist plan were advised to “keep the whole thing strictly confidential from Sinovac.” Apart from not disclosing their participation in the activist...