Judge puts back Kingston Wharves meeting to 11:30
THE Kingston Wharves extraordinary general meeting which was scheduled for 10:00 am today has been put back to 11:30 am to allow the Supreme Court enough time to decide whether two major shareholders will be able to cast their vote.
The meeting is being held at the Government Conference in downtown Kingston.
The two shareholders — Shipping Association of Jamaica, and the Port Workers Superannuation Fund — have been taken to court by some of their trustees who are trying to bar them from voting on a motion that could change the current board composition and senior management at the porting company. Together they control just over 30 per cent of the shares of Kingston Wharves.
Last week, the Shipping Association took a vote of its management committee which decided by majority to vote at today’s meeting.
Yesterday, Grace, Kennedy & Company, which owns 43 per cent of Kingston Wharves, and nominates the board members, withdrew a court case it had brought against Charlie Johnston, in an attempt to bar him from voting today. Johnston and a group of shareholders have vowed to remove from the Kingston Wharves board, the directors who were nominated by Grace, and replace them with their own nominees.
Johnston and his group had apparently secured the support of the Shipping Association and the Superannuation Fund ahead of today’s meeting — support which gave his grouping around 49 per cent of the voting shares, and which would have ensured their success.
However, if the votes are disallowed, Grace, Kennedy with its 43 per cent shareholding in Kingston Wharves will be able to beat back the attempt at wrestling from its hands, control of the board of the porting company.