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So big a decision; so few to make it

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JUST in whose interest is the Jardine Matheson Holdings decision to quit its listing in the territory? After reviewing the statements from the parties involved, any reasonable man would conclude it is being done in the interests of the minority controlling Keswick family, which apparently owns only five per cent of the company.

Many reasonable people might consider the board not to be acting in the best interests of the other, non-family-linked shareholders in this de-listing.

In fact, some reasonable people might infer that the rule of some five per cent of shareholders is being imposed on the rest, and that investors should question whether the directors are acting within their obligations to all shareholders.

The Hong Kong stock exchange said yesterday it would not ask for another shareholder vote on the de-listing issue as one had already been taken when the shareholders agreed to the secondary listing.

That was some years ago and the whole de-listing debate was rolling, but no one ever really believed the threat would be carried out because at the time there were quite a number of avenues and options possible to follow before the final button to de-list was pushed.

These channels have now been exhausted, which has quite obviously led the board's decision to de-list, but in the light of this, shareholders should be given an opportunity to have their say again.

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