New Zealand's Independent Kiwifruit Growers Association (IKGA), formed last May to provide an independent voice for the country's kiwifruit growers, has once again called for an independent inquiry into alleged repeated misuse of confidential shareholder proxy votes before company AGMs at Zespri, the international marketer which controls the lion's share of kiwifruit exports out of New Zealand.
An article in the 1 April 2011 edition of New Zealand's National Business Review accused international Zespri of breaching shareholder confidentiality and attempting to cover up the extent of its actions, referring in particular to what it described as a 'damning report' by David Connor, a barrister, which has thus far not been made available to the general public.
IKGA chairman Marcus Wilkins said the Connor Report, apparently paid for by Zespri with grower funds, should be be made public as it had lifted the lid on how proxy votes were allegedly accessed during the re-election of Zespri chairman Craig Greenlees at a number of shareholder meetings up until his final re-appointment in 2008.
'It would appear from this report that the re-election of Mr Greenlees at successive AGMs is seriously called into question,' Mr Wilkins stated.
'Even if he did have the votes to regain his seat on the board, he should have resigned because, according to the article, he received confidential shareholder proxy vote information prior to the AGMs in 2005, 2006 and 2008 in breach of a confidentiality agreement that he negotiated.'
Zespri's current chairman John Loughlin refused to agree to an independent inquiry on the matter when IKGA first raised the issue at Zespri's last AGM.
Mr Wilkins added that it was 'clear from the reported breaches of shareholder confidentiality and the company's attempts to cover up the extent of these breaches that an independent inquiry is the only way for Zespri shareholders to regain confidence in the Zespri Board'.
'Sound democratic processes and robust corporate governance go to the heart of shareholder confidence in any company. Zespri is not a cooperative (as mistakenly reported in the NBR article).
'We believe as many as 30 per cent of growers are not shareholders and an unknown but significant number hold less shares than their production.
'Given the fact that all kiwifruit growers (and not just Zespri shareholders) have to supply a company with monopoly powers conferred on it by the government, these revelations are even more serious.'
The IKGA has also called on industry body New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated (NZKGI) to make available to growers any information it had on Zespri's alleged accessing of proxy votes in breach of its confidentiality agreement, including the full content of any legal advice that NZKGI obtained on the matter.
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