BIZ BUZZ: New ASM date, same Lopez drama
The Lopez family saga is once again reshaping the corporate calendar.
Lopez Holdings Corp. has pushed back its annual stockholders’ meeting (ASM) by nearly two months, officially to give minority shareholders more time to nominate independent directors.
In a disclosure, the holding firm said the board approved the postponement of the June 11 ASM to Aug. 7, with the meeting still set to be held virtually. The company also moved the record date to May 29 and extended the deadline for board nominations to June 19.
Now comes another governance-sensitive issue: independent directors.
The conglomerate disclosed earlier that independent directors Roberto L. Panlilio and Consuelo D. Garcia had resigned from the board, effective May 1 and May 5, respectively. Both cited personal reasons.
Following the twin exits, only Michael Jack B. Garcia remains as independent director on the board.
Routine on paper, perhaps. But against the backdrop of the Lopez family’s increasingly public power struggle, the move is unlikely to be seen as just an administrative adjustment.
After all, this is the same conglomerate group now grappling with boardroom tensions, court battles and governance questions stemming from efforts by the Lopez majority led by Eugenio “Gabby” Lopez III to remove Federico “Piki” Lopez from key posts.
The conflict has spilled into listed firms First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPH) and First Gen Corp., where questions over controversial “change of control” provisions—or so-called poison pills—have triggered fresh scrutiny from investors and calls for regulatory review.
FPH also hit pause on its ASM last month.
In ordinary times, extending an ASM deadline would barely register. In Lopez land these days, however, even scheduling decisions carry political undertones.
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