A Chinese businessman and his wife agreed to settle insider trading charges for $3.3 million in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission probe into the $15.1 billion takeover of Canada's Nexen Inc.The securities regulator said that the couple stocked up on Nexen shares knowing that the energy company was about to be acquired by state-owned energy company CNOOC Ltd in July, China's biggest-ever takeover.Nexen stock jumped almost 52 percent on the announcement CNOOC had agreed to acquire the company, but the SEC soon got an emergency court order to freeze several trading accounts after it saw suspicious activity in the shares.In October, Hong Kong-based Well Advantage Limited settled charges of $14 million with the SEC, paying back illegal profits made on the trades plus a penalty worth the same amount.
CNOOC Limited is an investment holding company. The Company, along with its subsidiaries, is a producer of offshore crude oil and natural gas and an independent oil and gas exploration and production company. Shares of CEO fell by 1.23% or $-2.38/share to $191.50. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $171.58 and as high as $226.77. On average, 81161 shares of CEO exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 47747.
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