The last AGM of Solocal Group is another example of this new trend of shareholders using their powers to demonstrate their opposition against decisions and policies adopted by the company they have invested in.
On the 13th of June SolocalEnsemble gathered shareholders disappointed with the restructuring plan proposed by the managing board elected in September 2016. The threat of being declared insolvent by the Commercial Court, the disappointing performance of the group and the incompetence of the director pushed shareholders to express their dissatisfaction with the managing board.
The restructuring plan proposed by the managing board had stripped shareholders of up to 6% of their capital with the only performance condition of maintaining the current share price below the official objective of the restructuring plan, even though the company shareholders had just saved the group by reinvesting € 400 million in equity.
The mobilization of small individual shareholders brought together 5 million shares, representing 1% of the capital, which was not enough to ensure the adoption of the recommendation for dismissal of the managing board but enough to scare the director and the chairman who announced their resignations.
Such demonstrations of shareholder power from shareholders have also been observed in other AGMs over the past few months such as, for instance, SAP. ( read more here).
Access SolocalEnsemble and Proxinvest’s website here and here.