Stephen Vasciannie, chairman of DB&G, said there was no immediate intent to increase the board, but the vote would give leeway to do so in the future. - File

Ashford W. Meikle, BusinessReporter

In the face of opposition by a number of minority shareholders, directors of Dehring, Bunting and Golding (DB&G) were forced to poll votes on a resolution to increase the maximum number of directors from nine to 20.

The initial show of hands was inconclusive, but the motion eventually passed.

"Let shareholders participate in the management of the company," declared John Jackson at the extraordinary general meeting held Wednesday at DB&G's corporate headquarters in Kingston.

No new board members

"I am recommending that we move a resolution to increase the directors to a maximum of 15," he countered, with initial support from other shareholders, such as Stuart Lacey and Ralph Chen.

But, chairman of DB&G, Stephen Vasciannie, told shareholders there were no immediate plans to increase the size of the board.

The vote is just to give "leeway in the future," Vasciannie said.

Former DB&G director and company secretary, Mark Golding, pointed out that the amendment was consistent with BNS and the Scotia Group, but Jackson remained steadfast in his opposition to the amendment.

"You cannot convince me that one entity (BNS) that is going to generate $3 billion in profit will have the same management team as one (DB&G) that will earn profits of $1 billion."

Golding then sought support from the other minority shareholders.

"Is there a consensus on the floor ... we heard from some on the floor who are vocal [against the amendment] but what about others who are less vocal?" he asked.

At this point shareholders Chen and Lacey transferred their support in favour of the amendment.

"We need to be able to have confidence in the good judgment of the directors," reasoned Chen as he seconded the motion for the poll, which was moved by Scotiabank CEO, Bill Clarke.

With Scotiabank controlling almost 70 per cent of DB&G's shares the results - 213,5146,978 in favour as opposed to 10,814 against - were unsurprising.

Second-quarter benefits

In response to ashareholder's query about the savings from the DB&G/SJIM merger, departing CEO of Dehring, Bunting and Golding, Peter Bunting, said he expected that the benefits would begin to accrue in the company's second quarter.

"The calculation of the savings is not exact," noted Bunting.

Scotia Investment's core business is pension funds management, sale of mutual funds as well as Repo agreements.

The company has capitalisation of about $1.6 billion and funds under management of about $20 billion. For its financial year to October 31, 2006, SJIM posted net profit of about $220 million. For its financial year to March 31, 2006, DB&G earned net profit of $882 million on total interest revenue of $3.1 billion.

ashford.meikle@gleanerjm.com