The result of Contact’s annual general meeting in Auckland last Thursday was never in doubt, with Origin using its 51.4% stake in Contact, plus that of about 16 million undirected proxy votes, to defeat the resolutions put by the dissidents.
However, discounting the Origin and proxy votes, poll results show a large vote of no confidence by the minority shareholders in the independent Contact directors – deputy chairman Phil Pryke, Tim Saunders and John Milne – over their roles in the aborted Origin-Contact merger proposal earlier this year.
Contact released the results of the 12 resolutions put to the AGM – three of which called for the removal of Pryke, Saunders and Milne, and five for a lessening of Origin’s influence on Contact – to the New Zealand Exchange last Friday afternoon.
Not including the Origin vote and its proxies, the results show that about 70% of minority shareholders wanted Pryke dumped, about 60% wanted Saunders gone, and about 40% did not want Milne.
However, including the Origin and proxy votes, more than 335.33 million of the 392.97 million total cast (over 85%) were against the removal of Pryke, with over 86% against the removal of Saunders, and over 91% against the removal of Milne.
Only 7.72% of the votes were for the termination of Contact chief executive David Baldwin’s arrangement with Origin Energy or for his replacement.
Less than 8% wanted to preclude Contact’s chief having any future arrangements with Origin, while over 77% voted against establishing an independent committee regarding Contact Energy’s relationships with Origin.
Just 10.2% wanted Contact to attempt to recover the estimated $NZ8.6 million ($A7.5 million) it spent on the aborted merger and only 3.67% wanted Contact directors’ fees reduced until those merger proposal costs had been recovered from Origin.
Origin managing director Grant King, who is also Contact chairman, was re-elected as a Contact director, with a 94.64% vote, as was Origin non-executive director Bruce Beeren, with a 90.78% vote.
Last Thursday, King rejected calls from the disgruntled minority shareholders, saying the independent directors had behaved “entirely appropriately” with respect to the failed merger proposal.
