Deutsche Boerse Shareholder Vote To Go Ahead In May

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

03 February 2005

It was reported this week that Deutsche Boerse has agreed that its shareholders can vote in May on whether to replace the exchange's supervisory board, if they are still unhappy over the bid to buy the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

This followed the announcement last month by The Children's Investment Fund Management (TCI) that it planned to launch legal action against Deutsche Boerse if it did not agree to hold a shareholder vote on its LSE bid, despite the fact that this is not required under German law.

In a statement released at the time, TCI (which manages two funds which combined own more than 5% of Deutsche Boerse) stated its opposition to the move to purchase the LSE.

"We have written previously to both Dr Breuer, head of the supervisory board of Deutsche Boerse, and Dr Seifert, CEO of Deutsche Boerse, requesting the confirmation that any offer for the shares of London Stock Exchange would only be made conditional on the approval of a shareholders' meeting of Deutsche Boerse," the group announced, continuing:

"Were Deutsche Boerse a UK company listed on the official list or a Dutch registered company (like Euronext) to make such an offer, shareholder approval would be compulsory under UK listing rules and Dutch law."

Speaking to Reuters this week, an unnamed Deutsche Boerse source revealed that the vote, if still required by the shareholders to show their disapproval of the LSE bid, will take place at the company's annual general meeting on May 25.

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