CEO, COO and Cash Disappear From Publicly Traded German Company

A bizarre situation has unfolded at Ultrasonic AG, a Cologne, Germany based company that trades on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Last last week, the CFO of Ultrasonic AG (US5 on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange) released a statement entitled "CEO and COO disappeared, most of the company's cash missing." In the press release, CFO Chi Kwong Clifford Chan revealed that he was unable to reach the company's CEO (Qingyong Wu) and COO (Minghong Wu). Chan further went on to say that the two men had reportedly left their homes and were "not traceable".

Even more troubling for Ultrasonic AG's investors? According to the press release, "most of the company's cash funds at PR and Hong Kong levels have been transferred being no longer in the company's range of influence."

So, in short, it appears as though the CEO and CFO robbed the company of most of its cash and then skipped town.

As you can imagine, the news went over like a lead balloon with shareholders. Shares of the company closed today at 1.679 EUR, down 74.25% on the day. The company previously had a market cap of roughly $100 million, but the majority of that has been evaporated due to recent events.

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The company's CFO had announced earlier in the month that he was planning on stepping down on September 30th due to "family related reasons". Chan was going to be replaced by Yeung Man Kin on October 1st, but I'm guessing that Mr. Kin might be having second thoughts about joining the company.

Source: Bloomberg.com - Ultrasonic CEO, COO Disappear as Company Cash Goes Missing

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