Sina claims victory in boardroom tussle with US hedge fund Aristeia
Aristeia had forced a vote among Sina shareholders at its AGM over whether the company should consider changes in its top team to resolve corporate governance issues
Sina, the Chinese internet company, has claimed victory in its shareholder battle with US hedge fund Aristeia Capital, after shareholders at its annual general meeting (AGM) on Friday voted against adding Aristeia’s nominees to its board.
Aristeia, which says it is one of Sina’s top five shareholders, had sought two additional directors on Sina’s board and also to vote to remove the one incumbent director who was up for re-election.
The US-based fund claimed this would help resolve corporate governance issues which it said had hurt Sina’s share price. However, Sina’s shareholders rejected the arguments.
In statement issued after the meeting, the firm said shareholders had voted to re-elect incumbent Zhang Yichan to the board, and not elect Aristeia’s nominees Brett Krause and Thomas Manning.
Sina operates mobile and online digital platforms, on which it publishes news and entertainment, and founded social media platform Weibo, which it spun off as a separate entity in 2014, while maintaining a minority stake.
When it launched its campaign in September, Aristeia said Sina’s 46 per cent stake in Weibo was worth 130 per cent of the internet firm’s entire market capitalisation, and that Sina’s shares traded at a 41 per cent discount to their net asset value. It claimed the cause of the discount was corporate governance failings.