Lordos Hotels insider trading probe

THE SECURITIES and Exchange Commission is investigating insider trading allegations in connection with dealings in Lordos Hotels (Holdings Ltd) shares following a September 24 boardroom revolt which ousted chairman Constantinos Lordos.

The commission’s probe is based on a complaint made by Lordos himself against members of the board who are believed to have engineered his overthrow.

In a letter dated September 27 and addressed to the Cyprus Stock Exchange, Company Secretary Antonis Hadjirousou wrote that Lordos had been replaced as chairman by Petros Petrides and that two board directors had resigned.

Lordos Hotels is one of the island’s largest hotel owner and operator groups. Its crown jewels are Larnaca’s Golden Bay beach Hotel and the Golden Coast beach Hotel in the Protaras area.

A stock market guide published by CISCO in May 1998 lists Lordos as one of the main shareholders with a 22.8 per cent stake, followed by Takis Kyriakides with 13.5 per cent and Dimitris Lordos, brother of Constantinos, with 13 per cent. It put the value of the company’s property (land and buildings) at £22.6 million as of December 31 1996.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.