Listed companies whose internal rules do not provide for virtual
Annual General Meetings (AGMs) have been allowed to hold online
shareholder meetings, unlocking frozen company deals.
This
follows court approval of a deal between Nairobi bourse-listed
ScanGroup and Capital Markets Authority (CMA) allowing for online voting
on decisions that require shareholder approval.
CMA
had frozen shareholder meetings in line with the State directive that
prohibits mass gatherings like meetings, weddings and funerals to
contain the spread of the Coronavirus.
The regulator
also advised firms to hold virtual meetings, in effect freezing deals
that required shareholder approval in companies whose articles of
association do not provide for online AGMs.
ScanGroup
was unable to proceed with the sale of part of its business for Sh5
billion while Kenya Airways was also derailed from seeking shareholder
approval for an undisclosed transaction.
Justice David Majanja on Wednesday allowed listed firms to hold
virtual shareholder meetings during the coronavirus period despite the
internal rules not expressly providing for online voting.
The
order cushions Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE)-listed firms from
court action should a shareholder or interested party challenge
decisions reached through the virtual meetings.
“Most
of the listed companies were restricted by their Articles of Association
to hold virtual general meetings, for example, Scangroup and Kenya
Airways, who notified CMA of the restriction and their intention to seek
court orders to allow them to hold virtual AGMs,” said CMA in a
statement yesterday.
“The court’s decision will benefit
all listed companies that could not hold virtual general meetings due
to the Articles of Association restrictions. Listed companies will apply
to the Capital Markets Authority for a ‘no objection’, to proceed as
directed by the court.”
In the West, online voting at
AGMs has taken root since the Coronavirus outbreak as investors shun
large gatherings because of travel restrictions or fear of infection,
Swiss tech firm Sherpany said.
The company, which
counts Swiss giants Novartis, Nestle and Zurich Insurance among its 300
clients worldwide, provides a secure Internet platform, which allows
shareholders to vote on motions until the day before AGMs.
Technology
giant Samsung Electronics in March also adopted electronic voting for
the first time ever for this year’s AGM held March 18.
Even
though several companies amended their articles of association to allow
for virtual meetings, many have opted to suspend AGMs over adoption of
electronic voting.
“Thus far, CIC Insurance has been
allowed to proceed with sale of its assets transaction subject to a
virtual circular. Co-operative Bank, Kakuzi and BAT have been allowed to
pay dividends,” says CMA.
The regulator has allowed
firms listed on the NSE to pay dividends without holding AGMs and
directed boards to seek approval from investors when the shareholder
meetings are held at a later date.
The dividend
payments are key to putting money in the pockets of small shareholders
who require cash to meet personal expenses that ultimately boost demand
in an economy hit by effects of coronavirus.
To stem
the disease’s spread, Kenya has suspended commercial flights in and out
of the country, imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew and banned public
gatherings.
Section 310 of the Companies Act 2015
provides that a public company is statutorily compelled to hold an AGM
within six months from the end of its financial year. This means that
firms whose financial year end in December have till end of June to hold
the shareholder meetings. Traditionally, many of these firms host the
meetings in April and May.
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