City of London explains vote against icapital.biz board member's reappointment

PETALING JAYA: City of London Investment Management Co Ltd has written a letter to fund manager Tan Teng Boo to explain why it and Laxey Partners Ltd, the single largest shareholder of icapital.biz with 11.39%, plan to vote against the reappointment of Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim as a director was due to the length of time he has been retired.
"Directors should not start a new term in office if they have retired from active employment for more than five years. City of London believes that the skills and contributions of a director outside this criterion may be too far removed from current business practices or thinkingmto truly add value to the board over the long term," City of London's portfolio manager Oliver Marchner said in a copy of the letter sent to SunBiz.
It also pointed out that Tunku Aziz as a board member has no "requisite experience and knowledge of a listed closed-end funds (CEFs) and has retired from active employment for more than five years.
In relation to the composition of the board, City of London's portfolio manager Oliver Marchner made reference to Section IV paragraph 2a of its Statement on Corporate Governance and Voting Policy for Closed-End Funds (9th Edition).
"Requisite experience and understanding of CEFs is more relevant than knowledge of the country and region in which the fund invests. The latter is the responsibility of the manager, who is contracted by the board and is being paid to supply this skill," he said.
To recap, in a press conference chaired by Tan last week he explained that he had adjourned an AGM held last month to Nov 30, 2014, after learning that Laxey Partners and City of London were going to vote against the appointment of YM Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim. Tan sees the move as a prelude for a second attempt by Laxey Partners to secure board representation after failing to do so two years ago.