NewYingde shareholders end board battle, paving the way for sale to PAG

Shareholders voted to retain Mark Sun Zhongguo and Trevor Strutt in Yingde, paving the way for a sale of China’s third-largest industrial gases supplier to Hong Kong buyout fund PAG Asia Capital.

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A general factory picture of Yingde Gases Group. Photo: Handout

Peggy Sitoin Hong Kong,Eric Ngin Hong KongandDaniel Renin Shanghai

Published: 6:30pm, 8 Mar 2017Updated: 3:14pm, 10 Jul 2019

Yingde Gases Group’s shareholders voted on Wednesday to end a four-month long boardroom tussle at China’s third-largest industrial gases supplier, ejecting their chairman and retaining two co-founders to the company to pave the way for a sale to a Hong Kong buyout fund.

Shareholders voted to restore Mark Sun Zhongguo and Trevor Strutt to Yingde’s board, ejecting chairman Zhao Xiangti, according to several directors familiar with the results of two back-to-back meetings at the Ocean Spring Grand Metropark Hotel in Zhuhai.

“They won, and I need to resign from the board,” Zhao said by phone, in response to the South China Morning Post. “I have tried my best to make the company better to benefit our employees, shareholders and clients. It’s time to step aside now.”

Asked if he’s disappointed by the outcome, he said that “results are results.”

The outcome ends an acrimonious tussle since November last year, when Zhao staged a boardroom coup to strip Sun and Strutt of their executive roles, in a rift over management style, communication miscues, strategies and a plan to sell control of the company to the highest bidder.

Sun and Strutt have a one-in-four chance of prevailing at this week’s showdown, but through a series of lawsuits and complaints to regulators, they outmanoeuvred Zhao to secure a takeover bid from a buyout fund that eventually persuaded Yingde’s shareholders to get on their side .