German stock market regulator BaFin said today it had opened an inquiry into a recent purported bid by a little-known Swiss company for Disneyland Paris operator Euro Disney.
"There is suspicion of market manipulation. This is what we will be looking into," said a BaFin spokeswoman Anja Neukoetter.
Center-Tainment, a Swiss-registered company listed in Germany, announced plans to make an all-share offer for Euro Disney at a news conference in Paris last November.
But a bid never materialised after France's stock market regulator ruled that any offer must be in cash given that Center-Tainment was quoted only on a junior, unregulated foreign market.
Center-Tainment's share price has crumbled to just 4 cents from around 20 euros in late November.
Market manipulation is punishable in Germany by either fines or prison sentences, depending on how much measurable movement there was in share prices, the BaFin spokeswoman said.