(Trinidad Express) Shareholders of One Caribbean Media (OCM) on Thursday rejected the two individuals nominated by the Government to join the organisation’s board of directors.
The Government-owned National Investment Fund (NIF) had nominated insurance executive Dale McLeod and head of Government Relations at Digicel, Shakka Subero, to become directors on the OCM board.
The election of the two nominees was the second agenda item at OCM’s 56th annual meeting of shareholders at Express House, Port of Spain, yesterday.
The meeting was scheduled to start at 10 a.m., but shareholders began arriving as early as 9 a.m.
When the issue of the election of McLeod and Subero to the board was raised, shareholders in the standing-room-only meeting expressed concerns.
This led the representative for NIF, which holds a 23% ownership in OCM as part of the $30 billion “CLICO bailout” by the Government, to call for a poll to gauge shareholder consensus on the nominations.
When the poll was completed, the results showed 23,997,642 votes against McLeod’s election and 23,229,443 votes for it; while the results for Subero’s were more decisive, with 28,684,368 votes against him and only 18,542,717 votes for.
In a notice dated June 17, OCM had previously expressed concerns about Subero’s appointment to the board.
“The company informed the shareholder making the nomination that Mr Subero’s nomination will not enjoy the support of the OCM board and company management for the following reasons: he is a senior employee with an organisation that competes with one or more of OCM’s companies, placing him in a position of substantial conflict as a director,” the notice stated.
“In addition, his affiliation with the company’s competitor, where his responsibilities include Government relations, could challenge the desired and perceived independence required of a director of One Caribbean Media Ltd,” it added.
However, despite the concerns raised, the OCM board stated “the nominating shareholder has declined to withdraw the nomination of Mr Subero and has insisted that his name be placed in nomination for election as a director of the company”.
“Mr Subero’s nomination and consequently his election as a director are not supported by your board of directors,” the notice concluded.
OCM chairman attorney Faarees Hosein yesterday said the shareholder meeting was carried out in a “very professional and orderly manner”.
“A poll was requested by a shareholder with respect to the election of two NIF nominees to the OCM board. This process was overseen by an independent scrutineer and after tabulating he votes, the shareholders expressed their view,” Hosein said.
Minister in the Ministry of Finance Brian Manning, previously told the Parliament the Government’s move to nominate two people to the OCM board arose out of concern for the “precipitous decline in the value of OCM shares”.
Contacted for comment following the OCM shareholders’ poll results yesterday, Manning said the Finance Ministry should be issuing a release on the matter soon.
OCM is the parent company of Trinidad Express Newspapers Ltd, CCN TV6 and i95.5fm.
