Second Eximbank AGM inconclusive
Second Eximbank AGM inconclusive
The second annual general meeting of Eximbank has ended up in chaos on May 24, as the lender’s board of directors and shareholders have once again failed to find a common ground on the election of additional board members.
Since the number of Eximbank shareholders registered to attend the first annual general meeting (AGM) was less than minimum requirement of 65 per cent of voting shares stated in the bank’s charter, the Ho Chi Minh City-based bank could not successfully hold the meeting programmed on April 29, and consequently rearranged it to May 24.
618 shareholders, representing 93.8 per cent of the total voting shares, were recorded attending the second AGM. The meeting, however, could not kick off smoothly when 28.03 per cent of the shareholders disagreed to carry out the AGM, saying that regulations would not allow as many as five people to chair the meeting. The impasse was broken by Tran Le Quyet, head of Supervisory Board, and Naoki Nishizawa, representative of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, the Japanese strategic shareholder of Eximbank, who stepped down from their seats to allow the AGM to continue. Nishizawa is also currently a member of Eximbank’s Board of Directors (BOD).
The election of two additional BOD members was brought to the table once more, picking up from where it was left off at the first AGM. The BOD, however, noted that it was not the right time to elect new members at this stage but, with all respect to shareholders, it agreed to include recommendations to elect additional BOD members in the AGM agenda for further discussion.
Prior to the first AGM held on April 29, the bank’s BOD received letters from representatives of two domestic shareholder groups, one owning 11.82 per cent and represented by Nguyen Thi Xuan Loan, and the other holding 10.42 per cent of the voting shares, represented by Pham Huu Phuong. Both groups requested Eximbank to elect two additional board members to make up the 11 members agreed upon during the bank’s unusual AGM held in mid-December 2015.
As the second AGM could not be concluded at the end, as the venue was booked for another function from noon onward, Eximbank said that it will be holding an extraordinary AGM, scheduled on August 4, to carry on with the selection of additional members of the BOD, in accordance with current regulations.
Eximbank shareholders can submit nominations of BOD members from June 17 through to June 30.
