Company AGMs: Dos and don'ts

Controversy over Treasury China Trust AGM

A SHAREHOLDERS' meeting last week ended on a controversial note when the chairman called for a re-vote of a resolution after having declared that the company's annual general meeting (AGM) had ended.

Dissatisfied minority shareholder Mano Sabnani, who attended Treasury China Trust's AGM last Friday, claimed that the proper procedures were not followed.

He had earlier proposed an amendment to the third and last resolution, to limit certain share issuances from 20 per cent to 10 per cent of capital.

This amended resolution was seconded and then approved by a show of hands.

However, Mr Sabnani claimed that vice-chairman Stuart Leckie, who presided over the meeting, subsequently confirmed that the AGM was closed but then asked for the earlier resolution to be voted by poll - in its original form.

This had the effect of overriding the amended resolution that had been passed.

'(The chairman) belatedly decided that he wanted a poll on the third resolution relating to the issuance of shares. Polling on this resolution was carried out (after the) closure of the AGM, which made it out of order,' said Mr Sabnani.

'So (they made) two mistakes: when you call for a show of hands and you've agreed to a modification (to the resolution) and people have voted for it, you can't say sorry, I have a lot of proxies, I want to go back to polling the original,' said Mr Sabnani.
Voting by proxy occurs when a shareholder appoints someone he trusts to vote on his behalf.

'Second, when you close the AGM, you can't go back to open it again when the AGM is all over... Some shareholders would have left.'

At press time, Treasury China Trust had yet to make its regulatory filing on the outcome of the AGM.

Mr Mano Sabnani was featured in almost all the controversial AGMs..

for TCT, I wonder whether the original resolution 3 got proposer and seconder or not as the amended resolution 3 get proposed and seconded.

(30-04-2012, 07:56 PM)freedom Wrote: for TCT, I wonder whether the original resolution 3 got proposer and seconder or not as the amended resolution 3 get proposed and seconded.

Think don't have after carefully reading TCT's clarification posted on SGXNet in response to the ST article:
http://info.sgx.com/webcoranncatth.nsf/V...0003C31DC/$file/TCT_AGM_Announcement_30_April_2012.pdf?openelement

After reflecting on the amended Resolution 3 having passed with show of hands, the Chairman changed his mind and initially stated that based on the proxy votes received he declared the original Resolution 3 passed, without going through the full process of carrying out of a poll, let alone asking for proposer and seconder! Then he changed his mind (again) and decided to do a poll ostensibly before unitholders had left the room...

Wonder if there is any violation of regulations under the CIS regime, which would provide fuel for Mr Mano to pursue further action...

LOL!

I am already liking Warren Buffet's son

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-06...stors.html

When is it our turn....



Is the 'Shareholder Spring' Under Way?
Published: Tuesday, 8 May 2012 | 5:51 PM ET Text Size By: Allen Wastler
Managing Editor, CNBC.com

There’s a new term beginning to make the rounds in financial news … “shareholder spring.”

The catchphrase seems to have got its start over in London after shareholders there shot down pay proposals for CEOs at insurance giant Aviva, [AV 9.91 0.01 (+0.1%) ] drug maker AstraZeneca, [AZN 43.99 0.03 (+0.07%) ] and media company Trinity Mirror.

But many feel the term can be just as easily applied on this side of the pond as well. Citigroup’s Vikram Pandit recently felt shareholder anger over the seeming disconnect between his pay and the company’s performance. Sprint’s CEO [S 2.35 -0.06 (-2.49%) ] has come under similar fire from a teacher’s pension fund in Canada and another, larger teacher’s pension in California is taking issue with Wal-Mart’s leadership [WMT 59.05 -0.14 (-0.24%) ]following news about bribery in Mexico.

And if shareholders as a whole seem discontent with poor performance, the market is generally even more so. Less than stellar results and near misses have been punished this earnings season. Performance face-plants like Green Mountain [GMCR 26.38 2.08 (+8.56%) ] and Netflix[NFLX 72.79 -0.66 (-0.9%) ] have been mauled.

Of course, not all companies are punished. The investor frenzy for Facebook’s IPO still seems on the rise, despite some raised eyebrows over CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s solo Instagram deal and grumbling over general roadshow haughtiness.

Maybe that’ll change after there’s some actual stock performance.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/47344326

Well, I hope one day Singaporean investors can follow what our US counterparts does. Most people are just interested in the food after AGM...Sighz....

Base on observation during AGM recently, it seem more "info collection" investors are attending AGM. I have to compete for a slot during informal gathering

Having say so, I had also consumed the food provided

I have a questions for AGM/EGM.

If I have send in my proxy form instructing the chairman of the meeting to vote on my behalf, what happened if I turned up at the meeting? Would I be allow to vote? Or will my presence void the proxy form? Will I even be allowed to attend the meeting?

(19-06-2012, 08:18 PM)lonewolf Wrote: I have a questions for AGM/EGM.

If I have send in my proxy form instructing the chairman of the meeting to vote on my behalf, what happened if I turned up at the meeting? Would I be allow to vote? Or will my presence void the proxy form? Will I even be allowed to attend the meeting?

here is my understanding. proxy vote and attendance are 2 different matters. You can still attend and yet at the sme time asked the chairman to vote in a certain way. However your attendance will be registered as an "Observer" and not given any voting rights since you have surrendered your voting rights to the Chairman...this is assuming you surrender 100%. However if you surrender less than 100% to the Chairman then you still have the balance of the shares that you can still vote on.