Updated July 29
The appointment of an independent auditor has "absolutely nothing" to do with any missed deadline from Global Capital, the company said, insisting its request was made well ahead of the June 30 deadline.
It was reacting to an article which said Deloitte, one of the big four auditing firms, has been brought in to check the financial soundness of Global Capital.
The insurance and financial services firm was due to publish its financial analysis summary on June 30.
“The applicant’s financial soundness will be demonstrated through a due diligence exercise, which is to be carried out by an accountant mandated by but independent of the applicant,” GlobalCapital said in a company announcement.
Since GCFM is related to Global Capital, Deloitte Audit has been brought in as an independent third party auditor, approved by the MFSA, to carry out an assurance engagement on the report.
The company said the listing authority policy dated March 2013 requires an issuer of bonds to appoint a stockbroker to ensure that its financial analysis summary appended to its prospectus is updated annually not later than two months after the publication of the annual accounts and posted thereafter on the company’s website.
In relation to the financial analysis summary that was due to be published by June 30, GlobalCapital plc sought permission from the MFSA on June 20 for its financial summary report to be prepared by Global Capital Financial Management Limited, subject to the necessary disclosure by GCFM that it is not independent of GlobalCapital plc as it is a related party.
"Despite Global Capital’s repeated requests to the authority of June 28, July 2 and July 5, the authority only reverted on July 19, acceding to Global Capital’s request but subjecting such consent to the appointment of an independent auditor to carry out an assurance engagement on the financial analysis summary in view of the fact that GCFM is not independent of Global Capital plc."
"Thus, the MFSA did not get involved because of a missed deadline but was reacting to a request made by Global Capital and GCFM was not asked to prepare a report after consultation, but this was the very same request made to the Authority by Global Capital which consulted with the authority upon its own initiative on June 20."