It is now the high season for shareholders’ meetings, however, many meetings cannot be organized because they cannot gather enough shareholders as required by law.
The Sacom shareholders’ meeting slated for March 14, 2010 could not take place, because only representatives for 50.42 percent of its chartered capital turned up at the meeting.
Under current law, a shareholders’ meeting can be organized when there are shareholders with at least 65 percent of the shares present. If the meeting cannot gather the required number, the company will have to organize a second meeting, where shareholders holding at least 51 percent of shares are required to be in attendance.
As such, even at their second meeting, Sacom will still need representatives of 0.58 percent more.
Sacom has released notices of shareholders’ meeting on its websites, in newspapers and through letters sent directly to shareholders (The list of shareholders is provided by the Vietnam Depository Centre), hoping that the second shareholders’ meeting in late March 2010 will be successfully organized.
However, Sacom still worries that the second meeting may not gather a sufficient number of shareholders. Since the addresses of many people have changed or do not provide enough details, invitation letters may not go directly to the receivers.
According to Do Van Trac, General Director of Sacom, the enterprise has a high number of shareholders, nearly 14,000, who live in many different places. Calling a shareholders’ meeting is very difficult and a lot of people refuse to come because of high travel costs, while others cannot arrange time to attend.
Anticipating the problems, an enterprise operating in the field of technology reportedly sent two invitation letters to shareholders. The first invitation letter invites shareholders to a meeting on March 27, while the second is for a meeting on April 10 that will be held if the March 27 meeting cannot be held as planned.
In fact, failed shareholders’ meetings have been expected, because businesses learned their lesson last year.
The Vietnam Association of Finance Investors (VAFI) has suggested allowing shareholders to vote by email, allowing people from across Vietnam to discuss important issues.
Business leaders criticize shareholders for their indifference, while shareholders respond that the meetings are a waste of time.
Trung, a Saigon Securities Incorporated shareholder, is wearied by listening company leaders reading documents at meetings. He suggested that the documents be made public on the company websites several days prior to the meeting for reference.