FOURTEEN shareholders of strife-hit ecoWise Holdings have called for yet another extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of the company to remove its deputy CEO Cao Shixuan after a previous attempt to hold an EGM for the same purpose was brought to an end by a High Court injunction.

 

In a notice sent to ecoWise dated Oct 22 by the EGM requisitionists and seen by The Business Times, the shareholders - which hold over 118 million ecoWise shares or approximately 12.5 per cent of the total number of paid-up shares of the company - have called for the EGM to be held on Nov 26, no later than 28 days from the date of the notice.

 

The shareholders include previous EGM requisitionists Tan Swee Boon and Winston Tan Jin Beng as well as ecoWise founder and CEO Lee Thiam Seng who has been involved in a publicised tussle with Cao.

 

The resolutions to be tabled at this EGM include the removal of Cao as a director of the company and " for all necessary steps to be taken to remove him from all appointments with the company, its subsidiaries and its associated and investee companies" .

 

Other resolutions include the appointment of Dr Danny Oh Beng Teck, Gan Fong Jek and Allan Tan Poh Chye as directors of the company.

 

In their notice, the requisitionists have also asked for ecoWise to publish a copy of the notice on SGXNet and the company' s website by Oct 26.

 

ecoWise has not issued an announcement on this requisition nor has it posted a copy of the notice on SGXNet at this time.

 

A previous requisition for an EGM - to vote on Cao' s removal as well as on the appointment of new directors - could not proceed after the High Court on Aug 12 granted an interim injunction of the meeting.

 

The injunction application had been brought before the court by Cao who is also an executive director at ecoWise, the Catalist company had said in a bourse filing the day before the proposed EGM was to be held.

 

ecoWise had also appointed two new independent directors effective Sept 3 following a notice of compliance issued by Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) on June 25. The notice ordered the company to appoint two new independent directors, commission an internal audit and an audit of its first-half 2021 results and form a new auditing committee.

 

SGX RegCo said then that it was concerned about the " lack of a strong and independent element on the board" , the accuracy of the company' s H1 2021 results, the adequacy and effectiveness of internal controls in relation to ecoWise' s financial reporting, release of announcements, escalation and information flow to the board and the safeguarding of the group' s assets.

TROUBLED environmental solutions provider ecoWise Holdings has hired two independent directors, effective Sept 3.

 

These appointments come after bourse regulator Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) slapped the company with a notice of compliance on June 25, ordering it to appoint two new independent directors, commission an internal audit and an audit of its first-half 2021 results and form a new auditing committee.

 

The first appointment is Lo Kim Seng, as an independent non-executive director. Mr Lo was also appointed as the chairman of the remuneration committee, as well as a member of both the audit and nominating committees.

 

The 59-year-old is also currently serving on the boards of other Singapore-listed companies. He is an independent non-executive director of Fragrance Group, the lead independent director of No Signboard Holdings, and an independent director of CFM Holdings.

 

The second appointment announced by the group is Tham Chee Soon, who will serve as an independent non-executive director, chairman of the audit committee and a member of both the nominating and remuneration committees.

 

The 56-year-old is currently also a non-executive independent director at Fragrance Group and Hwa Hong Corporation.

 

Mr Tham was also an audit partner at EY Singapore from 2004 till his retirement in June 2018, and reportedly has 31 years' experience in the accounting field.

 

ecoWise' s board of directors said they are of the view that the appointments of both Mr Lo and Mr Tham will " enhance the effectiveness of the board and be beneficial to the company" . The board also said that it has assessed the qualifications, expertise, work experience and competencies of both individuals.

 

ecoWise suspended the trading of its shares on June 18 following a trading halt called on June 15. The counter last traded at 7.8 Singapore cents on June 14.

STRIFE-HIT ecoWise Holdings will not be able to proceed with an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to vote on the removal of its deputy chief executive, after the High Court on Thursday granted an interim injunction of the meeting.

 

The injunction application was brought before the court by deputy CEO Cao Shixuan, who is also an executive director at ecoWise, the Catalist company said in a bourse filing late on Thursday - a day before the proposed EGM was to be held.

 

Mr Cao, through his lawyers at CNPLaw, had served a writ of summons on the company' s founder and CEO Lee Thiam Seng, and shareholders Tan Wee Boon and Tan Jin Beng Winston. The latter two had called for the EGM to remove Mr Cao and to appoint three new directors - Damien Seah, Nichol Yeo and Calvin Tan.

 

ecoWise had said last Friday that any resolutions passed at the proposed EGM would be deemed invalid as valid notice had not been given for the meeting.

In his writ of summons, Mr Cao is claiming that the three defendants had conducted the company' s affairs and exercised powers of its directors in a manner that was " oppressive" , and that disregarded his interest as a director and member of the company.

 

Mr Cao has also claimed that holding the EGM on Aug 13 " unfairly discriminates against the plaintiff" , said ecoWise' s announcement, which was signed off by lead independent director Er Kwong Wah.

 

The same writ of summons was served on ecoWise as a " nominee defendant" , but Mr Cao is not seeking any remedies against the company.

 

The order will stand until the matter proceeds to trial, or when the court makes a further order.

 

The shareholders who called for the meeting told BT last month that they had notified ecoWise of the EGM on July 16 and had provided the company with a notice of EGM and a proxy form for the intended meeting. They said they had asked ecoWise to release the notice and proxy form in a bourse announcement and on the company' s website, but it had not done so.