Some of the shareholders present may have forgotten it; others no doubt came for it. The general meeting is similar to the meeting of co-owners, only worse.
Hundreds of title holders from the second European insurer met for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic – two years at the Axa insurance company, which took place in Salle Pleyel this Thursday, April 28. They came to see, listen and ask questions top management the company gathered around Thomas Buberl, its managing director, and Denis Duverne, chairman of the board of directors who are about to leave.
Vote for twenty-eight resolutions
They will vote on twenty-eight decisions to approve both the company’s financial statements and the board’s compensation policies, appoint and renew certain directors, authorize the board to buy ordinary shares, or raise Thomas Buberl’s salary.
At two-thirty the lights go out in the concert hall. You can start the session. Denis Duverne, the master of ceremonies, omits a few introductory remarks and mentions the formalities before the opening of the meeting: the creation of the office of the general meeting, the presentation of the agenda …
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“At the end of this general meeting, I will leave the chairmanship of the group, and I will be replaced by Antoine Gosset-Grenville,” said Danny Duverne. This transition was recorded in March 2021. Former financial inspector and head of Caisse des Dépôts, Axa administrator since 2020, now heads the prestigious Parisian firm BDGS. He will combine his work as a lawyer with that of President Axa.
There are many white heads in the room, several pairs of sunglasses (against migraine or after cataract surgery, met those interested). There is a secret snoring.
corporate democracy
Axa CEO says: “2021 has been a decisive and crucial year.” He reminds of the good results of the group: 100 billion euros in turnover (+ 6% compared to 2020), 6.8 billion euros in operating profit (+ 9% of the norm), 217% of solvency (+ 14%), all this allows the payment of dividends in the amount of 1.54 euros (+ 8%).
More than 78% of the company is owned by more than 17,200 shareholders, who own more than 1.6 billion shares, which is 66% of the shares and almost 68% of the voting rights. Unlike the press conference, the general meeting is focused on the owners of the company, a mixture of institutions and individuals. In this implementation of corporate democracy, individual shareholders are very diluted and weak, but if they join forces, especially with the incentives of proxies and NGOs, they can seriously harm the board.
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In addition, some NGOs and activist foundations are shareholders in companies to influence their social policies. Others, such as pirate investment funds Muddy Waters or Bluebell Capital Partners, are invited to destabilize governance and take advantage of falling stock market prices. Ownership of the company’s shares entitles them to speak in AG.
Today is Lucy Pinson, president of the NGO Reclaim Finance, which wants to align the goals of large financial companies with the demands of rapid climate change. She told Thomas Buberl in a long sentence that sounded like a militant joke: “We know that reconciling your investment portfolios to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 on a trajectory of 1.5 degrees is not easy (…) On the other hand, science is adamant, we no longer have to develop new oil and gas projects (…) can you (…) recognize the scientific imperative to stop oil and gas expansion and commit to revising your climate roadmap until the next COP [Conférence des Parties, grand rendez-vous des pays et des entreprises autour du climat, NDLR] to align its climate policy with this scientific imperative? ”
Investigation of cash in GA
A few minutes earlier, journalist Eliza Luset of Cash Investigation, owner of Axa shares, also directly challenged Thomas Buberla. “We have tried many times to interview you, but unfortunately without success,” she said. “You are very committed to the fight against global warming, you said so… I would like to know why you continue to invest in big oil companies today?”
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The company answered this question in its answers to written questions to AG. “Elise Lucet is coming to take pictures,” said the Axa man angrily.
In both cases, the interlocutors are responsible for President Danny Duverne, who seems to have agreed to play the role of bumper for his general manager. “We need to have an idea of our investment and the problem of climate change,” he said. “The most important thing is to ensure the energy transition (…), it requires us to continue to use fossil fuels, because if we did not have fossil fuels at all, the economy would stop.” Axa’s investment portfolio is 600 billion euros: those related to fossil fuels, according to the president, are “tiny”.
Candles in the room
In the room, faced with the insistence of interlocutors, shareholders leave the siesta. They shout, shout: “One! Enough! Boo! Stop!” Suddenly, it’s like a rat race, before the staff takes the microphones from two women.
On the other hand, peace of mind returns when others speak out about their daily worries – the retiree is worried that he does not see his Axa shares in his AXA Bank account; customers complain about poor service during the migration from AXA Bank; another asks the insurer about the impact of hurricanes in the US on the company’s accounts in 2021; the entrepreneur, again, faces the insurer with his misfortune: his disappearance in the fire of his factory and his difficulty in obtaining compensation from Axa for his assets.
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And the latter, finally, warns the manager about the amount of his remuneration. The GA is expected to confirm a 14% increase in Thomas Buberl’s salary from 1.45 million euros a year to 1.65 million euros. “If you were denied a promotion, would you perform worse?” – Asks a young man, a former employee of Axa, who became a startup. The presenter smiles but does not answer.
Approval of resolutions
At the end of this question and answer time, shareholders are invited to vote through a small box for the 28 proposed solutions, all to the sounds of intense music worthy of the show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”. With 10 seconds per resolution, the deal is executed in minutes. All received a support rate of over 90%, with the exception of the CEO’s remuneration of 77%. Frank test, but without complete success.
At the end of the GA, the question arises: are these annual meetings the place of the most heterogeneous statements? “Everyone takes the floor, it’s very cool!” the shareholder smiled as she replaced her sunglasses.