1 373 shareholders attended the 95th annual general meeting, representing 62.5.% of the share capital.
The shareholders approved the 2008 annual report including the compensation report, annual accounts, consolidated financial statements and appropriation of net profit. An unchanged1 dividend of CHF 2.80 per share will be paid out on April 15, 2009. Discharge was granted to all members of the board and corporate executive management.
The Renova Group, with 31.2% the single largest shareholder, had announced before the shareholder meeting that they would not support the re-election of Ulf Berg. As a result, Chairman Ulf Berg was not re-elected with 44.87% of all votes for his re-election, 55.07% against and 0.06% abstentions. Daniel J. Sauter and the two representatives of Renova, Vladimir V. Kuznetsov and Urs A. Meyer,were re-elected to the board with a large majority of the votes for a three-year term of office.
After the shareholder meeting, the seven members of the board of directors elected Luciano Respini as the new chairman of the Sulzer board. The board committees were also constituted. The audit committee consists of the following members: Louis R. Hughes (chairman), Vladimir V. Kuznetsov, Luciano Respini and Daniel J. Sauter. The nomination and remuneration committee consists of the following members: Hans Hubert Lienhard (chairman), Vladimir V. Kuznetsov, Thor Hakstad and Luciano Respini.
The board of directors and management of Sulzer would like to thank Ulf Berg for his strong commitment and performance and wish him all the best for the future.
1At the annual general meeting 2008 it was decided to increase the par value of each share from CHF 0.03 to CHF 0.10 through the conversion of freely distributable reserves and to split the shares on a ten-for-one basis to CHF 0.01. The dividend was paid out before the execution and amounted to CHF 28.00.