Pomerantz LLP Appointed Lead Counsel In Sibanye-Stillwater Limited Securities Litigation
On December 17, 2018, Pomerantz LLP was appointed Lead Counsel in a class action lawsuit filed against Sibanye-Stillwater Limited and certain of its officers.
The class action, filed in United States District Court, Eastern District of New York, and docketed under 18-cv-03902, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons other than Defendants who purchased or otherwise acquired Sibanye securities between April 7, 2017 through June 26, 2018, both dates inclusive (the “Class Period”), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants’ violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials.
Sibanye operates as a precious metals mining company in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and the United States.
The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Sibanye’s safety protocols were inadequate to prevent a high rate of worker death; (ii) Sibanye’s mining supervisors routinely forced Company employees to work in unsafe and unlawful conditions; (iii) the foregoing issues would foreseeably subject Sibanye to heightened regulatory oversight; and (iv) as a result, Sibanye’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
On June 13, 2018, pre-market, The Mercury published an article entitled, “Mine puts profits before lives – claim,” stating that Sibanye’s mining supervisors forced and intimidated miners to work in dangerous conditions.
On this news, Sibanye’s share price fell $0.07, or 2.6%, to close at $2.56 on June 13, 2018.
On June 26, 2018, Bloomberg reported that “another worker was killed at [Sibanye’s] Driefontein operation in South Africa, bringing the total deaths at the company’s mines this year to 21.” According to the article, Sibanye “accounts for nearly half of the 46 people reported killed at South African mines in 2018 and is already the subject of an investigation by the chief inspector of mines.”
On this news, Sibanye’s share price fell $0.31, or 10.99%, to close at $2.51 on June 26, 2018.
Then, on June 27, 2018, pre-market, Bloomberg reported that Citigroup Inc. cut its recommendation on Sibanye’s stock to neutral from buy, citing the Company’s “track record” from “an environmental, social and governance perspective, as well as the underlying investment risk that it holds[.]”
On this news, Sibanye’s share price fell $0.26, or 10.36%, to close at $2.25 on June 27, 2018.