- In line with the measures taken by the Swiss Federal Council to combat the coronavirus, the 21st Annual General Meeting of Meyer Burger Technology Ltd (SIX Swiss Exchange: MBTN) was held today without physical presence of the shareholders on site at the company’s headquarters in Thun
Through the independent proxy, 1’090’249’228 registered shares were represented, corresponding to approximately 43.3% of the share capital entered in the company’s register.
At today’s Annual General Meeting in Thun, the shareholders of Meyer Burger Technology Ltd approved all but one of the motions proposed by the Board of Directors:
The General Meeting approved the management report, the annual financial statements, and the consolidated financial statements for the 2020 financial year. The 2020 remuneration report was also approved in a consultative vote.
The Annual General Meeting approved the use of the balance sheet result and granted discharge to the members of the Board of Directors and the Executive Board for the 2020 financial year.
The existing members of the Board of Directors Franz Richter and Andreas R. Herzog and Mark Kerekes were re-elected by the Annual General Meeting. The shareholders also elected attorney Urs Schenker as a new member of the Board of Directors. Franz Richter was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors in a separate vote, and Andreas R. Herzog and Urs Schenker were elected to the Nomination and Compensation Committee.
PricewaterhouseCoopers AG, Bern, were re-elected as auditors for a further year and André Weber was re-elected as the Company’s independent proxy.
The Annual General Meeting agreed to redefine the approval period for the remuneration of the Board of Directors for the period from the ordinary Annual General Meeting to the ordinary Annual General Meeting of the following year and to amend the Articles of Association accordingly. Likewise, the maximum total amount of compensation of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee for the financial year 2021/22 was approved.
In order to provide the Company with flexibility in financing its strategic expansion plan, the Board of Directors has proposed an increase of the authorized and conditional capital. The shareholders approved the increase of the authorized capital with 88.2%, as well as the increase of the conditional capital by 10% of the existing share capital for convertible bonds with 71.9% of the votes in favor.
Only the increase of the conditional capital for employee stock options by 5% of the existing share capital did not reach the required quorum of two-thirds of the votes with 60.9%. The Board of Directors regrets this result. For the coming growth phase and the successful implementation of its strategic goals, Meyer Burger has signed up top people and needs additional highly trained and dedicated employees, which is why a performance-based employee program has been developed.
Chairman Franz Richter commented: “The Board of Directors will also seek discussions with shareholders and the proxy advisors for a possible solution.”
Video interview with the Chairman and CEO
Recently, Meyer Burger introduced its new high-performance solar modules. With them, Meyer Burger is setting new industry standards. Three different, patent-protected product variants were presented at the premiere, all of which are manufactured in the company’s own production facilities in Germany using the proprietary heterojunction/SmartWire technology developed in Switzerland. Research and manufacturing under the same Meyer Burger umbrella help to ensure technology leadership in the long term.
Chairman of the Board of Directors Franz Richter and CEO Gunter Erfurt provide information about the next development steps in a video interview. All voting results and the video are available at: www.meyerburger.com/en/annual-general-meeting
