Yungtay Engineering Co (永大機電) shareholders yesterday voted to reshuffle the board of directors, as a Hitachi Ltd public tender offer for the Taiwanese elevator supplier raised the ire of some of its directors and shareholders.
The extraordinary shareholders’ meeting in Taipei to re-elect three independent directors and six board directors was the first such gathering since the Japanese conglomerate’s announcement in October last year of its intention to acquire Yungtay’s common shares on the open market.
The shareholders’ vote resulted in the camp led by independent director Chen Shih-yang (陳世洋), who has been opposed to the tender offer and orchestrated the extraordinary meeting, winning three director seats and two independent director seats, thanks to collaboration with institutional investors such as Pau Jar Group (寶佳機構), a residential property developer based in New Taipei City.
The Hitachi-backed camp led by Yungtay chairman Su Ray-chun (許瑞鈞) secured three director seats and one independent director seat, a company regulatory filing showed.
At the meeting, several shareholders voiced their concerns about selling company assets for low prices, while others questioned the possibility of personal information regarding the tender offer leaking.
Influential proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services Inc had also recently released a report indicating management problems at Yungtay.
Su is to step down as chairman and Hsu Tso-ming (許作名), a former Yungtay president and a founding shareholder, is expected to take up the 63-year-old company’s top position as soon as the new board holds an election, local Chinese-language media reported yesterday.
Hitachi controls an 11.7 percent stake in Yungtay and it intends to gain 100 percent ownership of the Taipei-based firm with the offer at NT$65 per share, which would render Yungtay a wholly owned subsidiary.
It was unclear whether the board reshuffle would affect Hitachi’s bid for Yungtay.
The Japanese conglomerate on Wednesday said that it had acquired the minimum number of shares — 88.5 million shares, or 21.66 percent — and would accept all tendered shares until Monday next week.
Yungtay yesterday closed up 0.31 percent at NT$64.7 in Taipei trading.
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