Tunku Datuk Yaacob Khyra has won the majority support of shareholders in the extraordinary general meeting on Monday to continue as the chairman of KNM Group Bhd and deliver on his turnaround strategy.

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 16): Following KNM Group Bhd’s extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Monday, the group’s chairman, Tunku Datuk Yaacob Khyra, has won the majority support of shareholders to continue with his leadership and deliver on his turnaround strategy.

In a statement, Tunku Yaacob thanked all shareholders for their confidence, trust and continued support.

“The board is heartened by the support from shareholders, and wishes to inform them that the board remains fully committed to their efforts to ensure their targets of debt settlement within nine months through a partial IPO (initial public offering) of Borsig, which in turn will ensure a profitable and sustainable future for KNM Group, its shareholders and all stakeholders,” it said.

It was a clear win for Tunku Yaacob, as 184 shareholders voted against the resolution, as opposed to 151 shareholders who voted for removing him as a director. The 184 shareholders who voted against the resolution represented 62.18% of the voted shares.

Meanwhile, for the other camp in the shareholders' tussle, Tunku Kamariah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah received only 141 votes or 47.66% of voted shares to appoint her as the replacement for Tunku Yaacob.

Similarly, German billionaire Andreas Heeschen received only 148 votes or 47.71% of voted shares to appoint him as the replacement for Tan Sri Dr Zulhasnan Rafique.

Notably, he holds a 9.5% indirect stake in the group.

To recap, on Aug 29, Andreas Heeschen, who is a majority shareholder of German-based firearms manufacturer Heckler & Koch, emerged as KNM’s substantial shareholder with a 7.91% stake, or 320 million shares.

Out of the 320 million shares, about 200 million were via a transfer of title and interest to him under “the terms of governing agreement”. KNM’s share price closed at nine sen on Aug 29.

Subsequently, Heeschen, 63, with the support of eight other KNM shareholders, applied to hold an EGM to replace the directors. The shareholders are Azmi Osman, Tai Tean Seng, Kok Seng Ping, Jacqueline Lee Fei Fei, Chang Hui Kee, Sazini Abdullah, AZM Trading Venture Sdn Bhd and Gan SMT Sdn Bhd.

Heeschen, who together with the parties acting in concert held a 10.69% stake back then, attempted to oust the entire board of nine directors, including Tunku Yaacob, who is the company’s largest shareholder and chairman.

Tunku Yaacob holds a 9.5% indirect stake or 384.2 million shares held via Melewar Industrial Group Bhd.

Besides Tunku Yaacob, the group also proposed to remove the rest of KNM’s board — namely directors Zulhasnan, Ravindrasingham Balasingham, Yee Hong Ho, Steve Ho Soo Woon, Thulasy Suppiah, Datuk Uwe Ahrens, James Beltran, and Datuk Naresh Mohan.

Meanwhile, seven new directors were proposed, comprising Heeschen, the Johor princess, Flavio Porro, a former executive director of KNM, who exited the company in December last year, as well as former chairman of Magna Prima Bhd and Komarkcorp Bhd Datuk Abd Ghani Yusof, Edwin Silvester Das, who currently serves as Jiankun International Bhd's chief executive officer, Datuk Zaidi Mat Isa @ Hashim, an executive director of SMTrack Bhd, and William H Van Vliet II, an executive director of CN Asia Corp Bhd.

All of the proposed directors from the Heeschen-Tunku Kamariah group did not make it to be appointed to the board.

Shares in KNM closed unchanged at 11.5 sen on Monday, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM465.29 million.

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