Anglo American has admitted that it erred in preventing South African shareholder activist Theo Botha from attending its annual general meeting (AGM) in London last week, but has attempted to pass the buck to service providers Link and Equiniti.
Last Thursday Botha was denied access to the AGM even though he was properly accredited to act as a proxy by Strate, an Anglo American shareholder.
This week Botha received an email from Anglo American company secretary Nick Jordan admitting that Botha’s paperwork was correct but that there had been an administrative error that resulted in his exclusion.
Jordan says that Botha’s surname was written in the wrong space on the form and because of this his name was captured as Theo Bennett instead. Botha says he accepts that the service providers made a mistake but feels that Anglo American should be apologising to him and not apologising on behalf of its service providers.
In a letter he sent to Jordan this week, he says: “You state further that you are satisfied that your staff acted correctly; I disagree. I presented the correct documentation to your assistant company secretary and he even made a comment that he remembered my attendance at last year’s AGM. “If, as you say, your staff acted correctly then why didn’t they phone Goudstad Nominees? After all, their contact details were on the proxy letter.
“At the end of the day, you and I can blame whoever — but the company Anglo American Plc has to accept responsibility for not allowing me to attend the AGM which was held on April 21 2011,” Botha says.
He had been planning to query the appointment at the AGM of Anglo American chief executive Cynthia Carroll as the chairperson of subsidiary Anglo Platinum. Botha had raised these concerns at the Anglo Platinum AGM earlier in the month, particularly the involvement of Carroll in Angloplats’s decision about dividends, which has a direct impact on Anglo American’s performance and thus on the remuneration of Anglo American executives, including Carroll.
At the time she said she recused herself from board decisions “when I feel any conflict”. Botha also argues that on April 18 he told Jordan by email that he would be attending the AGM in London and informed him of the questions he would be asking.
“In the 10 years that I have attended AGMs my stockbroker has never made a mistake regarding my documentation,” writes Botha in his letter to Jordan. “So I find it very strange that your assistant company secretary prevented me from attending the 2011 AGM.” Jordan’s letter does not acknowledge any wrongdoing by Anglo American.
“While I am satisfied our staff acted correctly on the day with the information they had, further research this morning has revealed that the cause was a bizarre error made by both our SA transfer secretaries and UK registrars prior to the AGM,” he writes.
“You were, indeed, validly appointed [as a] proxy by Strate; however, because the form they completed had your surname on the line below your forenames, both the SA transfer secretaries and UK registrars independently made the same error — by recording your surname as Bennett instead of Botha.
“It is also disappointing that the error was not noticed when the registrars spoke by phone immediately prior to the AGM when we were trying to establish your credentials,” writes Jordan. “I must therefore offer my apologies on behalf of both Link and Equiniti, who no doubt will wish to add theirs.
“I can also confirm that they will reimburse your expenses in travelling to the AGM, if you would kindly confirm the details to me. For our part, we will ensure you receive full answers to the questions you intended to raise at the meeting had you been admitted.”
Responding to the Mail & Guardian‘s questions this week Anglo American said it was “genuinely sorry” that Botha had not been admitted to the AGM. “The error was not Anglo American’s; it was made by our agents on our behalf,” a company spokesperson said.