Hong Kong's Market Misconduct Tribunal has found businessman Dickson Poon, founder and former executive chairman of Dickson Concepts (HKG:0113), guilty of insider dealing, according to a Securities and Futures Commission press release on Friday.

The tribunal found that Poon and his investment vehicle, Equity Advantage, traded Dickson Concepts shares while in possession of non-public information about a transaction that would later generate cash for the company.

The tribunal also found Dickson Concepts in breach of Hong Kong's inside information disclosure requirements, attributing the failure to Poon's intentional conduct.

The case stemmed from PayPal's 2019 acquisition of Honey Science, which entitled Dickson Concepts to receive about HK$1.15 billion in cash from its previously undisclosed stake in Honey.

The tribunal found Poon bought about 2.8 million Dickson Concepts shares through Equity over 13 trading days before the transaction was disclosed to the market.

Sanctions and related orders against Poon, Equity Advantage, and Dickson Concepts will be determined at a later date, the statement said.