Perelman company reaches another settlement with government

A company owned by Ronald Perelman has agreed to pay $720,000 to settle Department of Justice charges over a stock purchase, the second time this month that the billionaire financier agreed to penalties to resolve civil charges by the federal government.

MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings agreed to make the payment to end an antitrust case over its failure to report its June 2012 purchase of more shares in Scientific Games Corp ( id="symbol_SGMS.O_0">SGMS.O), which provides lottery and gaming services, despite passing an ownership threshold requiring such reporting, the Justice Department said.

The accord follows an unrelated June 13 settlement in which Revlon Inc ( id="symbol_REV.N_1">REV.N) agreed to pay $850,000 to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges that it deceived shareholders and independent directors about a failed 2009 transaction with Perelman to take the cosmetics company private. MacAndrews & Forbes owns more than three-quarters of Revlon.

 

Both settlements require court approval.

In Thursday's case, the government said the purchase of Scientific Games shares required Perelman's firm under the federal Hart-Scott-Rodino law to report its stake to the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission.

These agencies have powers to block mergers, and can demand notice when a shareholder is amassing a large stake in a company. MacAndrews & Forbes later made a corrective filing.

Christine Taylor, a MacAndrews & Forbes spokeswoman, called the failure to file a "technical and inadvertent mistake" that the company reported on its own and which involved no financial benefit. She said new safeguards are in place to avoid a repeat.

According to regulatory filings, Perelman owns roughly 38 percent of Scientific Games, whose market value was about $966 million as of Wednesday's close.

Forbes magazine in March estimated that Perelman, 70, was worth $12.2 billion, making him the world's 79th-richest person.

The case is U.S. v. MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia, No. 13-00926.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Carol Bishopric)