UPPSALA, Sweden, April 28, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Biacore International AB (Stockholm:BCOR) announces that today's annual general meeting of shareholders was attended by 19 shareholders, representing 54 percent of the total number of shares and votes in the company.
The meeting decided, in accordance with the board of directors' and the president's proposal that the non-restricted equity in the parent company at the meeting's disposal, SEK 108,979,000, be used as follows:
Dividend to shareholders, SEK 3 per share SEK 29,250,000 To be carried forward as retained earnings SEK 79,729,000 Total SEK 108,979,000
The meeting reelected the board members Mr Lars-Goran Andren, Dr Gordon Edge, Mrs Donna Janson, Mr Donald R Parfet and Mr Mats Pettersson and elected Mr Ronald Long and Dr Anders Vedin as new members of the board. Mr Tom Erixon and Dr Marc Van Regenmortel had declined to be reelected. The unions had nominated Mrs Anna Hansson and Dr Markku Hamalainen as their representatives on the board and Mr Hans Sjobom and Mrs Anette Persson as deputies. Mr Donald R Parfet was elected chairman of the board. Mr Lars-Goran Andren had declined to be reelected as chairman.
Mr Ronald Long, born 1947, has a degree in economics and business administration (BA Hons Economics, DMS) and is the CEO and chairman of Procognia Limited. Mr Long is also a board member of several other companies, including KuDOS Pharmaceuticals (chairman), Pharmagene, The Automation Partnership (deputy chairman) and Gyros AB. Mr Long has previously been the CEO of Amersham Pharmacia Biotech and the vice chairman of Nycomed Amersham. Mr Long does currently not hold any shares in Biacore.
Dr Anders Vedin, born 1942, is an MD and professor in Management of Medical Technologies at Chalmers University of Technology. Dr Vedin is the chairman of a number of companies, including Medivir AB, CLC Ltd (UK), Arexis AB, Cellartis AB and Resistentia Pharmaceuticals AB and has previously held senior positions within the Astra group. Dr Vedin does currently not hold any shares in Biacore.
The meeting decided that remuneration to the auditors shall be paid on approved account.
The meeting decided that the company shall have a nomination committee consisting of one representative for each of the three largest shareholders in the company with regard to the number of votes held. Should any of the aforementioned owners abstain from participating in the nomination committee, the next owner in terms of size shall be asked to participate instead. The names of the three owner representatives and the name of the shareholders they represent shall be announced six months prior to the annual general meeting in 2006 and shall be based on the known number of votes in close connection with the announcement. The term of office for the nomination committee extends until the earlier of the appointment of a new nomination committee and the next annual general meeting. Unless the members of the nomination committee agree otherwise, the chairman of the nomination committee shall be the member who represents the largest shareholder with regard to the number of votes held.
If one or more shareholders who are represented in the nomination committee ceases to belong to the shareholders controlling the largest number of votes, the members appointed by such shareholders shall resign from the committee and the shareholder or shareholders who have become one of the shareholders controlling the largest number of votes shall be entitled to appoint its representatives. In the absence of imperative reasons, however, no changes shall be made in the composition of the nomination committee if merely marginal changes in the number of votes have taken place, or if the changes occur later than two months prior to the annual general meeting. Shareholders who are represented in the nomination committee shall be entitled to dismiss its representative and appoint a new representative of the nomination committee.
The assignment of the nomination committee shall be to present proposals to the annual general meeting for: chairman of the annual general meeting, chairman and other members of the board appointed by the annual general meeting, remuneration to the board of directors, distinguishing between the chairman of the board, other members of the board and remuneration for committee work, remuneration to the auditors, and election of auditors, if applicable.
If required, the Company shall be able to defray reasonable costs deemed necessary to engage for the due discharge of the nomination committee's assignment.
About Biacore
Biacore is a global supplier of systems for protein interaction analysis, an area of increasing importance for scientists in the academic, pharmaceutical, biotechnology and diagnostic markets. The Company's systems generate unique data on the interactions between proteins and other molecules, including small molecules such as drug candidates. During research, development and manufacture, these data give insights into protein functionality, elucidate disease mechanisms and play a key role in the critical decisions needed for efficient development and production of therapeutics.
Biacore's products are used in key areas such as antibody characterization, proteomics, lead characterization, immunogenicity, biotherapeutic development and production. The Company offers a range of products to meet specific application needs. Customers include leading life science research centers, all of the leading global pharmaceutical companies, and a large number of companies in the emerging biotechnology sector.
Biacore also markets food analysis solutions, providing key manufacturers with a system and ready-to-use kits for the determination of food quality and safety.
The company has its own direct sales capability in the world's key markets (United States, Europe, Japan, Australia) and a distribution network in Asia-Pacific. Biacore was founded in 1984 and is listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange (SSE:BCOR).
Biacore is a trademark of Biacore AB.
Further information on Biacore can be found at: www.biacore.com
This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net
The following files are available for download:
http://wpy.waymaker.net/client/waymaker1/WOLReleaseFile.aspx?id=93723&fn=wkr0001.pdf