French reinsurer SCOR has decided to postpone its annual general meeting (AGM) to June 30, 2019, due to concerns about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The company had initially tried to pull its AGM much earlier this year, on April 17th, but drew sharp criticism from activist investor CIAM last week.
In a letter to shareholders, CIAM accused SCOR of ignoring the market practice of postponing shareholder meetings and moving its AGM forward to be just within the limits of French corporate law.
The letter said SCOR is “probably the only company” to have moved its AGM forward, and argued that this action “significantly reduces the time available for shareholders to review the materials published or to engage with the Company in these testing times.”
At the same time, CIAM reignited its attack against SCOR’s “poorly drafted pay policy,” which it says “continues to lavishly reward” the company’s Chair and CEO, Denis Kessler.
CIAM engaged in a prolonged spat with SCOR following the reinsurer’s rejection of an €8.2 billion takeover bid from Covea in 2018.
Catherine Berjal, CEO of CIAM, has been very vocal in her criticism of Kessler’s governance practices, and has previously led a call to have him removed from his combined Chair/CEO position, as well as lowering his pay.
Now, SCOR appears to have yielded to investor pressure and opted for a later date in the year, acknowledging the challenges posed by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Notably, the company did not say it had considered the option of conducting the AGM virtually, which could have preserved the earlier date it had been aiming towards.
“Given the difficulties of holding annual shareholders’ meetings in the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic, at the request of the Chairman and CEO, the Board of Directors of SCOR SE at its meeting of March 27, 2020, decided to postpone the holding of its Annual Shareholders’ Meeting to June 30, 2020,” SCOR’s statement read.
SCOR reported a rise in net income for the full year 2019 to €422 million and a net combined ratio of 99%. However, a high level of natural catastrophe activity pushed its Global P&C segment to an underwriting loss in the fourth-quarter.
