PSX board election set to be held in mid-April

KARACHI: The long but belated elections for Pakistan Stock Exchange’s board of directors will finally be held on April 19^th, 2018.

A board meeting held on Monday comprising of 14 members decided the elections would be held on 19^th April, after the deadline of 28^th February set by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) passed, reported Dawn.

Both the apex regulator and PSX had been at loggerheads over the elections issue, with the latter insisting their tenure was slated to end in February 2019 and refused to follow the SECP’s directives.

But, it was reported early in March that both PSX and SECP had reached a consensus and it was decided the elections would be held and the current board dissolved after the conclusion of the demutualization process last year.

Earlier in March, the PSX director shared that in a meeting between SECP and PSX brokered by Adviser to PM on Finance, Dr. Miftah Ismail in Islamabad, differences over appointment of independent directors had been resolved.

The new board set to be constituted after elections in April would provide representation to minority shareholders who bought 20 percent shared issued under PSX’s IPO. And a woman director will also have a seat on the PSX board as per the Companies Act, 2017.

As per sources, it was decided during the meeting the number of directors elected to the new board will be numbered at fourteen.

These positions are going to be equally shared between shareholder directors and independent directors.

Majority Chinese shareholder holding 40 percent of the shares alongside, domestic broker directors with 40 percent stake and public shareholding amounting to 20 percent would vie for seven allocated seats on the board.

The PSX would recommend 14 candidates to the SECP for positions of seven independent directors, which will be selected by the apex regulator.

In totality, every elected director would require attaining 14.7 percent of total votes to secure their positions. The 15^th director will automatically be taken up by Richard Morin, PSX Managing Director courtesy of his designation.