Results of the Annual General Meeting of Baloise Holding Ltd
April 26, 2024 at 07:16 am EDT
Share
Baloise Holding AG / Key word(s): AGMEGM
Results of the Annual General Meeting of Baloise Holding Ltd
26-Apr-2024 / 13:14 CET/CEST
Release of an ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR (SIX) and pursuant to Art. 16 KR (BX)
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Basel, 26 April 2024. At the 61st Annual General Meeting, the shareholders of Baloise Holding Ltd approved the proposal to increase the dividend to CHF 7.70 per share and elected Dr Guido Fürer as a new member of the Board of Directors. Two of the three shareholder proposals achieved a qualified majority; consequently, the registration and voting rights restrictions were removed from the Articles of Association of Baloise Holding Ltd and the threshold for a qualified majority was lowered from three quarters to two thirds.
At the Annual General Meeting of Baloise Holding Ltd, two of the three shareholder proposals reached the required qualified majority. The provisions in the Articles of Association concerning the restriction of registration and voting rights were rescinded and the qualified majority for important decisions of the Annual General Meeting was lowered from three quarters to two thirds of the votes represented at the AGM. However, the shareholder proposal to amend the nominee clause was rejected, as recommended by the Board of Directors.
Higher dividend approved
The Annual General Meeting voted in favour of all proposals by the Board of Directors. The shareholders approved the Company’s 2023 management report, annual financial statements and consolidated financial statements, and granted discharge to the members of the Board of Directors and management team. The AGM also approved the dividend proposed by the Board of Directors, meaning that a gross dividend of CHF 7.70 per share will be paid for the 2023 financial year.
Change of personnel on the Board of Directors
After eight successful years on the Board of Directors of Baloise Holding Ltd, Hugo Lasat did not stand for re-election.
The shareholders elected Dr Guido Fürer as a new member of the Board of Directors. Dr Fürer was Group Chief Investment Officer and a member of the Corporate Executive Committee at Swiss Re from 2012 to 2023. Between 2019 and 2022, he held the position of Country President for Swiss Re in Switzerland, and was also the chair of the Group Strategic Council.
Dr Thomas von Planta was confirmed as Chairman of the Board of Directors, and the remaining members of the Board of Directors were each re-elected for a term of one year.
“Our shareholders have approved our proposal to increase the dividend by 30 centimes to CHF 7.70 (gross). Three shareholder proposals had been submitted. The restrictions on registration and voting rights were originally introduced by our shareholders, and today a qualified majority of shareholders have opted to remove these provisions from the Articles of Association rather than amending them at the next AGM. We also welcome Dr Guido Fürer to the Board of Directors, and we express our gratitude to Hugo Lasat for his invaluable work over the last eight years,” said Dr Thomas von Planta, Chairman of the Board of Directors, with regard to today’s AGM.
The full speech in German by Dr Thomas von Planta can be downloaded from www.baloise.com/annual-general-meeting and can be watched as a video stream from 27 April 2024 at www.youtube.com/BaloiseGroup.
Important dates
Tuesday, 30 April 2024: Ex-dividend date
Friday, 3 May 2024: Dividend payment date
Thursday, 12 September 2024: Investor update and 2024 half-year financial results
Wednesday, 20 November 2024: Q3 2024 interim statement
The focus is firmly on the future at Baloise. We aim to make tomorrow more straightforward, safer and more carefree for our customers, and we are taking responsibility for this today. Baloise is more than just a traditional insurance company. Through our smart finance and insurance solutions, we offer a complete service package. Dependable support, reliable cooperation and trust-based relationships are key aspects of our stakeholder interaction. We take care of financial matters so that our customers can concentrate on the important things in their lives and can find inspiration in the everyday. Baloise, a European company founded more than 160 years ago, currently employs 8,000 people at its headquarters in Basel (Switzerland) and across its subsidiaries in Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg. Our services generated a business volume of around CHF 8.6 billion in 2023. Baloise Holding Ltd shares (BALN) are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange.
Baloise Holding AG is a Switzerland-based company that offers insurance and retirement solutions to private individuals and companies. The Company combines insurance and banking services and is active in Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg. The Company diversifies its activities into Non-life, Life, Asset Management & Banking and Other Activities business segments. The Nonlife segment includes accident and health insurances, as well as products of the liability, motor, property and marine sectors. The Life segment includes capital-forming insurance and risk covers, among others. The Asset Management & Banking operating segment encompasses banking-related areas of asset management as well as the actual banking area. The Other Activities segment comprises equity investment companies, real-estate firms and financing companies.