The former head of German exchange operator Deutsche Boerse has agreed to pay 4.75 million euros ($5.4 million) to end a probe into suspected insider trading, prosecutors said Wednesday. Frankfurt prosecutors opened the case against Carsten Kengeter in 2016 over his purchases of shares in Deutsche Boerse two months before a merger plan with the London Stock Exchange was unveiled, an announcement which sent their share prices shooting upwards.

"The proceedings against the former CEO of Deutsche Boerse and the Deutsche Boerse company, as co-accused in the case, are now closed," the Frankfurt prosecutor's office said in a statement. The payment does not constitute an admission of guilt by Kengeter, who has repeatedly maintained his innocense.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019