Former Hong Kong minister Fred Ma leads rebels to breakaway shareholders’ meeting in challenge to Convoy’s incumbent board
- Ma, a former finance chief, led a dramatic walkout from a shareholders’ meeting by scores of investors on Thursday evening
- The shareholders, who claim a 53 per cent stake, reconvened and voted in six directors to challenge the incumbent board of Hong Kong’s biggest MPF adviser
Convoy Global Holdings, one of Hong Kong’s largest pension advisers, saw a dramatic twist in its boardroom tussle when a breakaway caucus of shareholders voted in six directors nominated by the second-largest shareholder to challenge the incumbent board.
The rebels, led by former Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Frederick Ma Si-hang, said they are backed by shareholders with a combined 53.53 per cent of Convoy’s voting rights. He led a walkout by scores of investors from Convoy’s head office in Wan Chai just 20 minutes into a shareholders’ meeting hosted by the current board on Thursday evening.
They moved to the nearby Empire Hotel, where they hosted their own self-proclaimed shareholders’ meeting and passed the agenda proposed by the second-largest shareholder, Kwok Hiu-kwan, which aims to remake the board, adding Ma, Kwok himself and four others as directors to replace the current board.
But even Ma cannot be sure about the legality of the vote.
“We will work with the legal experts on the next step forward. The message is clear as it showed over 50 per cent of shareholders want to remove the current board of directors,” Ma said in a media briefing after the Empire Hotel vote. “We want to see the government and regulator help improve the corporate governance of the company.”