Chapter 994: Deep calculations in the struggle at the shareholders‘ meeting
Wei Er smiled lightly, calmly took out a few copies from his briefcase, and threw them directly onto the table in front of Wade Shiyahuai. He said unceremoniously, 'Copies of all shareholding certificates, totaling 54% of the shares. Go and see for yourself!'
In the eyes of everyone, Wade Shiyahuai could not help but be annoyed. With a stern face, he picked up the share certificates in front of him, looked through them one by one, and then added up the numbers in his heart to come up with one figure – 54%!
It was exactly the same as what Wei Er had said!
Wade Shiyahuai looked down at the audience, his gaze sweeping over the faces of Baker Jerry, Song Bo, and Liu William, the deputy chairman of the board of directors appointed by HSBC.
These three were the accomplices!
At this point, the voice of Wei Li rang out again.
'Mr. Wade Shiyahuai, do you see clearly? Am I now the largest shareholder of Cathay Pacific Airways?'
The tone of his voice was flat, but the content of his words was extremely arrogant.
Wade Shiyahuai snorted, threw the copy of the shareholding certificate back at Wei Li, and sat silently with a dark face, keeping silent.
Wei Li didn't think anything of it, but instead gave a faint smile and continued to say to the crowd below, 'Now, in my capacity as the largest shareholder, I declare the extraordinary general meeting officially begins!'
'Without further ado, I will move on to the first item on the agenda of this shareholders' meeting.'
'Due to significant changes in the company's shareholder status, and the fact that the current company directors Zhao Xiang, Liu Tai, and Jones Federer...have failed to fulfil their diligence obligations in the performance of their duties, seriously affecting the company's operations and causing damage to the company's shareholders' rights and interests.'
'Therefore, the aforementioned directors of the company are no longer qualified to hold the position of director of the company. According to the relevant provisions of the Company Law and the Articles of Association of Cathay Pacific Airways Co., Ltd., Jiuding Industrial Group, as the largest shareholder, proposes to adopt the cumulative voting system to remove the aforementioned directors of the company, Zhao Xiang, Liu Tai, and Jones Federer...'
As Wei Li finished speaking, everyone present turned pale!
Shock, confusion, and those who were thoughtful... There were all kinds of reactions!
The people Wei Li proposed to remove were all part of Wade Shiyahuai's inner circle. He appointed them using the seats corresponding to the shares of Swire Pacific, and there were a total of seven people.
People like Baker Jerry and Song Bo, who were on the same side as him, and the directors previously arranged by Standard Chartered Bank and the Song family, were all his own people, and there was no proposal to remove them at all.
As for the seven independent directors who were there for the sake of the company's development, regardless of whether they had been nominated by Wade Schiaway to join the company's board of directors before, and whether they belonged to his camp, Veri did not propose to remove any of them.
In addition, there were two other people who were not on the list of people he proposed to remove: Frank Ming (Matt Arnold) and Zhang Dasheng (Malone Dempsey), who looked stunned.
These two men glanced at each other, a little confused, and looked back and forth between Welly and Wade Schiaway, not sure what was going on.
They both considered themselves to be Swire Pacific people, and looked to Wade Schiaway for guidance, so before Wade Schiaway arrived, they both stood with the directors appointed by Swire Pacific's shareholding, their position very clear.
This was especially the case with Frank Ming Fan, who was after all a director appointed by the senior management of Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company.
Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company only held 4% of Cathay Pacific's shares, which was below the 5% threshold.
However, Swire Pacific had allocated the right corresponding to 1% of the shares to Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company, giving the latter 5% of the voting rights and making it eligible for a seat on the board.
In addition to being the chairman of Swire Pacific and Cathay Pacific, Wai Tak Szeto is also the chairman of Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company and Hong Kong Airport Ground Services. Frank Ming was appointed to Cathay Pacific by Wai Tak Szeto.
Frank Ming and Zhang Dasheng had no idea what had happened in their respective companies before they came here, so they were confused and did not understand why Wai Tak Szeto would let them off, the two 'direct descendants' of Wai Tak Szeto.
At this point, some people in the audience of the disturbance were already looking at them with strange looks, as if they were wondering why they were being given special treatment by Welly.
Wade Shiyahuai was not confused. At this moment, he was extremely shocked!
Welly was not going to remove the entire board of directors, but only seven directors who were completely loyal to him!
Welly was cutting down his wings!
There was a huge conspiracy!
He had been in the business world for many years, and immediately thought of a possibility!
Welly is trying to use the power of the shareholders, the highest authority in the company, to undermine his position on the board from the top down. Then, according to Cathay Pacific's special board structure, he can gain voting rights for two-thirds of the board with less than 66.7% of the shares, even though he only owns 50% of the shares!
The key to achieving this is the seven independent director seats established by the Cathay Pacific Airways Co., Ltd. Articles of Association!
These seven independent directors are Welly's target!
It is very likely that Wei Li wants to overwhelm him, shatter his prestige, and then force the independent directors to take sides!
If he is given the chance, it is very likely that Wei Li will take advantage of the timing to seize control of the company's board of directors and remove him from his position as chairman before he knows what's happening.
Without the collective removal of the board of directors, the only way for Wei Li to remove him from his position as chairman is with a two-thirds vote of the board.
With seven independent directors on the board, his 37% stake in the company, which represented seven director seats, could no longer guarantee that his voting rights would always be more than one-third!
He must stall, he could not let Wally crush him, he must maintain his prestige without the other directors knowing what was going on, and buy time for his own rescue operation!
Thinking about this, he slapped his hand on the table, as if to cheer himself up, and decisively and loudly objected, 'I disagree!'
After saying this, he turned his head to look at his two subordinates, Van Keming and Zhang Dasheng, who were also shareholders, and signalled for them to come forward quickly.
Facing the gaze of Wade Schiaway, Van Keming immediately declared his position, saying loudly, 'I also disagree!'
In Van Keming's opinion, even if he lost his position as a director of Cathay Pacific Airways, he was still an executive of Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company, and Wade Schiaway was still his chairman.
Zhang Dasheng's mentality was the same as that of Fan Keming, so he immediately also took a side and expressed his support for Wei De Siya Hui.
'I oppose it too!'
After he had expressed his opinion, everyone's attention was focused on Wei Li.
Although the combined voting rights of the shares held by Wei De Siya Hui, Zhang Dasheng and Fan Keming were only 44%, they were still unable to stop Wei Li.
But Wei Li just didn't want Wei De Siya Hui to gain even a little momentum.
He also wanted to make Zhang Dasheng and Fan Keming realise the situation!
If they could be made to betray Wei De Shiyahui on the spot, it would deal a huge blow to Wei De Shiyahui's prestige, help the company's executives realise the situation, and help him take over Cathay Pacific Airways.
Not only that, but in the plan before Wei Li came, as long as Zhang Dasheng and Fan Keming switched sides, their status as directors would be preserved.
And all the members of the board of directors belonging to the Wade Schiaway faction were swept away, and the crippled board of directors would be entirely his own people.
In this case, the board of directors was not completely removed and abolished, and the board of directors still exists, so there is no need to re-elect the board of directors.
In this way, it is only necessary to fill the director seats.
And there is a fundamental difference between re-electing company directors and re-electing the board of directors.
Re-election of the board of directors requires the approval of two-thirds of the shareholders present at the meeting.
However, the election of only one or two directors requires only a simple majority of the votes at the shareholders' meeting.
Wei Li is trying to take advantage of this loophole to veto all the directors proposed by Wade Schiaway, and then rely on him to have more than half of the voting rights, and then send his own people to the board of directors.
After a few more manipulations, Wade Schiaway will be powerless!
The most critical thing now is, of course, to get rid of Zhang Dasheng and Fan Keming!
Wei Li looked at Zhang Dasheng fiercely, his gaze sharp as a knife, as if he could see through his mind, making Zhang Dasheng feel uneasy.
Just then, Wei Li took out a stack of documents from his bag again and threw them directly in front of Zhang Dasheng.
Zhang Dasheng glanced at them and his face instantly changed when he saw some words on them.
And when Wei De Shiyahuai saw the familiar cover, he naturally knew what it was, and his face became particularly ugly.
The voice of Wei Er sounded at the right time: 'Zhang Dasheng, pick it up and take a good look, who is the owner of Xiangjiang Airport Ground Services Company!'
'Whether you can stay in the company depends on your own choice!'
Feeling the focused gazes around him, Zhang Dasheng nervously swallowed.
He glanced at Wei De Shiyahuai, who looked very unpleasant, and then picked up the stack of photocopies with a slightly trembling hand and started to flip through them.
Proof of 24% equity in Xiangjiang Airport Ground Services Company!
16% proof of ownership!
15% proof of ownership!
11.5% proof of ownership!
Total shareholding percentage – 66.5%!
After calculating this figure in his heart, Zhang Dasheng's mind trembled violently.
Jiuding Industrial Group actually held 66.5% of the equity of Xiangjiang Airport Ground Services Company!
Although it was less than two-thirds, as long as it exceeded 50%, he could be directly removed from his position as a director of the company's board of directors through the shareholders' meeting, as was the case now.
As for his position as a senior executive, once Jiuding Industrial Group has taken over, there will also be a way to remove him.
How can Swire Pacific, as a relatively small shareholder, fight against the major shareholder Jiuding Industrial Group?
If Veri wants to keep him, then he can definitely stay in the company, and even if Wade Schiaway proposes to remove him from his position as a director, the proposal will not pass the shareholders' meeting.
If Veri wants to get rid of him, then he will definitely be swept out of the door.
Seeing Zhang Dasheng's changing expression, it was clear that his position was wavering violently, and Wade Schiawase panicked.
He said to Zhang Dasheng in a threatening manner, 'Marlon, you need to think carefully!'
Wei Li, however, gave a faint smile and said to Zhang Dasheng with meaningful words, 'Zhang Dasheng, there is only one chance. You are already 45 years old, so you should understand the importance of making a choice!'
'Let me confirm with you once again: do you approve or disapprove of my proposal?'
Facing the attention of the entire audience, Zhang Dasheng took a deep breath, and his gaze instantly became determined.
Wei De Shiyawai, who had been paying close attention to Zhang Dasheng's expression, subconsciously clenched his fists, holding his breath and staring intently at Zhang Dasheng.
After a long while, all that could be heard was Zhang Dasheng decisively spitting out three words!