Convoy meeting ‘cut short’ again after mob brawl a day ago
A shareholders’ meeting of one of Hong Kong’s largest financial service providers on Friday ended in dispute again, a day after a similar session descended into a brawl.
Convoy, the operator of one of Hong Kong’s leading retirement funds, has been grappling with a bitter power struggle in recent years between two camps originating from mainland China and Taiwan.
Each side wants to control the Convoy boardroom and accuses the other of failing to govern the embattled listed company, which has faced regulatory investigations over suspected fraudulent practices.
In the Friday fiasco, lawyers representing the mainland Chinese shareholders from the Kaisa Group claimed to have secured a court injunction order to stop the ongoing annual general meeting. The meeting host reportedly ignored their calls and pushed ahead with the scheduled agenda.
Lawmaker Paul Tse told reporters outside the venue he was representing a group of minority shareholders and that the session had been cut short, without revealing details.
A day before, Convoy had called an extraordinary meeting, during which it conducted a vote that determined the incumbent directors, who were seen as representatives of Taiwan’s Fubon Financial Holding, won majority support to continue their domination on the board.
The session abruptly ended when a mob stormed into the venue and wreaked havoc, injuring a number of security staffers. Police arrested at least eight people, who reportedly had triad links.
Convoy operates a financial advisory business that taps into Hong Kong’s lucrative mandatory retirement fund schemes. Trading of the shares has been suspended since 2017, following an investigation into its executives’ involvement with a fraud case. The company faces the risk of being delisted from the Hong Kong bourse.
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