Belvedere asks Autorité des marchés financiers to respect rules

By Jennifer Chiou

New York, Sept. 21 - Belvedere SA announced its shock following news from the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) that appeared in Geneva newspaper L'Agefi, stating that an AMF regulator has asked Belvedere to respect transparency rules - notably one related to threshold clearings.

In a company news release, Belvedere has now asked AMF to respect reserve rules as well as the confidentiality of its statute of regulation.

On Sept. 11, the company released a statement in response to the "unfounded allegations" of the Association des actionnaires minoritaires (ADAM) to note that the treasury shares in question by ADAM are held by Belvedere Group and will, as a result, be denied voting rights at the next general meeting.

The company said at the time that it never had intended to take voting rights into account for the aforementioned shares, despite ADAM's impressions otherwise.

In addition, the company said in the previous release that the shareholder agreement between Jacques Rouvroy and Christophe Trylinski was dissolved on Jan. 14, 2007. Further, a review by the AMF had confirmed this.

Further, on Sept. 18, Belvedere announced that hedge funds owning floating-rate notes have once more failed in their case against one of the company's Polish affiliates. The company said that the outcome proves that it is within its rights regarding its plan of reorganization while assuring the proper treatment of its creditors.

This all follows the Court of the District of Krakow dismissing on July 10 a suit from the Bank of New York Mellon against a third Polish affiliate of the company. That time, the action involved Destylernia Polmos w Krakowie HIS and the Bank of New York Mellon representing hedge funds holding the floaters.

On Sept. 14, the Court of Dijon ruled that Belvedere must confer with its creditors on the company's plan of reorganization, adding that the next plan probate meeting is scheduled for Oct. 12.

The court is seeking clarification and details on certain plan aspects, the prior news release added.

Belvedere also already pointed out that following the private placement to reclassify the shares held by its group, their declarations were regularly carried out, reported and published. The company specifically cited an AMF review dated Aug. 9, 2007.

Going even further, the company said that the AMF would certainly have taken question over the past two years if there was any room for debate on any offre publique d'achat, or bid, concerning the shares.

The company also questioned why ADAM has pursued the "unfounded" accusations against the company, taking into account its recent and ongoing court actions regarding the creditors of its floating-rate notes ahead of its plan of reorganization hearing.

Based in Beaune, France, Belvedere is a producer and distributor of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.

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