The battle continues as Swatch Group again opposes activist investor
The ongoing wrangling between Swatch Group and a disgruntled investor has reared its head again, as the watch company has once more opposed GreenWood Investors’ bid for a seat on the board.
It has encouraged the Group’s shareholders to vote against Steven Wood, GreenWood Investors’ founder, who has been asking to have a seat on the board for some time now.
His main gripe is that he sees the governance of the Swiss watch group as being dysfunctional and unbalanced because of how dominated it is by the Hayek family. The Hayek family controls the company through its ownership of registered shares, which are a fifth of the face value of bearer shares, but with equal voting rights. It has 44% of voting rights and three board seats.
Wood believes that this family-centric control of the company encourages conservatism and resistance to open decision-making.
Swatch Group’s view is that Wood doesn’t have connections or experience in the Swiss industry and therefore isn’t suitable to represent the interests of its shareholders.
Instead, it has been pushing former Swiss government official Andreas Rickenbacher, suggesting him for the bearer shareholder spot at its May 12 AGM.
