Brussels, April 9, 2021, 8.30 a.m. CEST - Solvay today announced that it has published materials for the next General Shareholders' Meeting, which will be held on Tuesday May 11, 2021 in Brussels, at 10.30 a.m. CEST. All documents relating to this meeting are now available on www.solvay.com.
In view of the exceptional situation related to the coronavirus, the Solvay General Shareholders’ Meeting will take place virtually. The Company has taken all necessary steps to enable shareholder interactions and questions at the meeting and has provided registration and participation information (see below). The company will continue to closely monitor the situation and will inform shareholders in due course, by means of a press release and on the company's website of any developments regarding the Shareholders’ meeting.
Agenda’s main topics submitted to shareholders’ approval
Shareholders will be asked to vote on a number of resolutions. They include the approval of the financial statements for the financial year 2020, the compensation report and the discharge to be given to the Directors and the auditors.
The Board will also propose to approve a total gross dividend of €3.75 per share. Solvay continues to execute on its value-enhancing G.R.O.W. strategy to drive consistent, profitable growth and increased earnings power. As the Covid-19 crisis unfolded, the Group quickly adapted priorities to accelerate cost savings and cash delivery, generating a record level of free cash flow and €332 million of cost savings in 2020. Further, Solvay made significant progress towards its One Planet sustainability targets. This performance reflects the decisive nature of the Group’s response and the resilience and sustainability of its operating model. As a result, the Board proposes to distribute a stable dividend compared to 2019.
Solvay is also nominating, for shareholder approval, two new director nominees, Dr. Wolfgang Colberg and Edouard Janssen, to replace Amparo Moraleda and Evelyn du Monceau, whose mandates come to an end in May 2021.
Dr. Wolfgang Colberg, who is 61 and of German nationality, is currently Chairman of the Board of ChemicaInvest and Industrial Partner at Deutsche Invest Capital Partners. He is a Board member of Thyssenkrupp, Pernod Ricard and Burelle. Dr. Colberg started his career at the Bosch group, where he held various leadership positions in Europe and Central Asia. He was then Chief Financial Officer at BSH, before being Chief Financial Officer of Evonik Industries AG between 2009 and 2013. He was then an Industrial Partner of CVC Capital Partners between 2013 and 2019. Dr. Wolfgang Colberg holds a PhD in Business administration. Dr. Colberg will serve as independent Director on the Board of Solvay.
Mr. Edouard Janssen, who is 42 and of Belgian nationality, is currently an Advisory Board member of the INSEAD Hoffmann Institute. Prior to this, Mr. Janssen spent most of his career within Solvay (until February 2021), holding various leadership positions in Europe and the Americas, including Vice‐President Strategy and M&A Manager, Finance Director of Solvin (a joint-venture between Solvay and BASF active in ChloroVinyls in Europe and in Russia) and Vice‐President & General Manager of the Aroma Global Business Unit for North and Latin Americas. Mr. Janssen holds an MBA at INSEAD.
Nicolas Boël, Chairman of Solvay’s Board of Directors commented: “On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to thank Ms. Evelyn du Monceau and Ms. Amparo Moraleda for their significant contributions. We are pleased to propose Dr. Wolfgang Colberg and Mr. Edouard Janssen for appointment, confident that their experiences will further enhance the Board’s effectiveness at the service of Solvay ’s continued future development.”
Meeting information
The meeting will be broadcast via a live webcast, accessible to all shareholders via the Lumi AGM+ platform. Shareholders are invited to either vote by proxy before the meeting or electronically during the meeting.
Although the webcast enables live interaction, shareholders are strongly encouraged to submit their questions in writing prior to the meeting, so that answers provided at the meetings can be as comprehensive and accurate as possible. All questions can be addressed to ag.solvay@solvay.com.
Visit the Shareholders’ Meeting dedicated page for more details regarding the agenda, the admission conditions and voting methods.
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