Clariant Announces Agenda for AGM; Biggest Shareholder Wants Chairman Out

Clariant announced on Monday that its biggest shareholder, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), has submitted its agenda for the upcoming Annual General Meeting scheduled to take place on April 7, 2021.

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SABIC, which owns around 32% of Clariant (CLZNF), submitted two items on the agenda that it would like the Clariant Board of Directors to address.

SABIC would like the Clariant Board to approve a special dividend of CHF 2 per share, or the maximum amount that can lawfully be distributed, dependent on the company’s financials as of December 31, 2020. The special dividend would amount to approximately $753 million, which according to Reuters, could drain the company’s reserves that could otherwise be used for acquisitions.

The second item on the agenda deals with the amount of time that Board members, including the Chairperson, should be allowed to serve on the Board. SABIC is proposing a 12-year board member term limit that would effectively remove Chairman Hariolf Kottmann from his position.

Kottmann joined Clariant’s board in 2008 and his relationship with SABIC has become strained since a proposed joint venture between the two companies collapsed in 2019.

A spokesperson for Clariant has confirmed that adoption of the proposed term limits would force Kottmann out, although other board members would not yet be affected. He said that the Clariant board would discuss SABIC’s proposals at the upcoming AGM. (See CLZNF stock analysis on TipRanks)

Barclays analyst Alex Stewart reiterated her Hold rating on the stock 16 days ago, setting a price target of $19.18, which implies downside potential of around 5%.

Consensus among analysts is a Hold based on 1 Buy and 6 Holds. The average price target of $20.40 suggests that the stock is almost fully priced, with upside potential of 1.5% over the next 12 months.