THE annual general meeting (AGM) of internet, media and entertainment giant Naspers on Friday showcased promising new e-commerce ventures, but might be remembered more for a tense sideshow when chairman Koos Bekker threatened to remove shareholder activist Theo Botha. At the meeting, Botha requested access to a restricted stock plan trust deed (presented to shareholders at 2015’s AGM) that entails incentives for mainly middle management and specialists at Naspers.
Botha told Business Day: "Naspers have operations all over the world. We want to be able to hold Naspers to account about what is contained in the trust deed."
At the meeting, Naspers company secretary Gillian Kisbey-Green reiterated an opinion given weeks ago to Botha that the statutory window for viewing the trust deed was closed. She argued that the trust deed was not a public document, and Naspers would set a precedent by making an exception of providing documents outside of the statutory window.
When Botha persisted with questions and argued that shareholders were not being treated equally, Bekker threatened to remove the activist from the meeting.
Botha responded with, "Mr chairman, you are being autocratic."
After the meeting, Botha — well known for asking difficult questions at company AGMs — said it was the first time he had been threatened with ejection from a company meeting.
"I asked my questions politely, and I was not disruptive. We are living in a world of transparency. In terms of Naspers’s own memorandum of incorporation — and legal opinion — all shareholders are entitled to access the trust deed."
Botha is not letting Naspers off the hook, and has subsequently engaged a lawyer to pursue the matter.
A letter sent by Adam Pike of Pike Law to Naspers homed in on Kisbey-Green’s argument that since Botha was not a holder of Nasper shares at the time of the 2015 AGM, he was not entitled to the documentation.
"Despite having applied our minds and conducted the necessary research, we have been unable to identify the provisions upon which the secretary (Kisbey-Green) may have relied in order to form her views."
In pre-meeting formalities, Naspers outlined developments at its e-commerce ventures. Martin Scheepbouwer, the head of online classifieds business OLX, said the medium-term outlook was exciting.
He said OLX was active in 40 markets and had grown trade volumes 30%-40% a year.
"Last year, we had $250m in revenues, and we expect significant growth this year," he said.
OLX founder Alec Oxenford outlined prospects for letgo, the recently launched mobile-only consumer-to-trading platform, in the US. Oxenford said letgo had posted 5.5-million listings in July alone.
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