Amid the controversy surrounding the sale of a prime land in Kuala Lumpur's Jalan Ampang belonging to Hoklian Holdings Berhad, the board of directors and shareholders had reached a resolution at their AGM yesterday.

Minority shareholders had earlier expressed dissatisfaction with the board of director's decision to sell the land to Fiamma Land Sdn Bhd at RM 25.02 million despite an offer by Metro KL City Sdn Bhd, which was higher than Fiamma's by RM1 million.

Hoklian was established 25 years ago as a form of investment for the Hokkien community in the country.

Since the dispute began, concerned Hokkiens had formed an ad hoc Shareholder Rights Committee to prevent the sale of the land to Fiamma.

The committee noted that during a BOD's meeting in March when the tender was discussed, the board of director disclosed Metro's original RM25 million bid to Fiamma. Fiamma immediately took action to outbid Metro by RM200,000. A few days later, Metro offered to buy the land at RM26 million but the counter-offer was intentionally concealed.

The committee also questioned the rationale to sell the land to only a Hokkien group when they can sell it to the highest bidder.

The committee had also considered an EGM held in April this year in which the sale was purportedly approved to be invalid because of the delay in notifying shareholders of the meeting. Only 60 shareholders attended the meeting with some were allegedly omitted from being notified of the EGM.

Early this week, five minority shareholders obtained an injunction from the Kuala Lumpur High Court to halt the sale of the land to Fiamma and to hold an EGM within 30 days to resolve the land sale dispute.

Consensus reached

The wishes of shareholders were fulfilled at yesterday's two-hour AGM when a consensus to invite the two companies interested in buying the land, Fiamma Holdings Sdn Bhd and Metro KL City Sdn Bhd, to participate in another tender for the land, was reached. In addition, due to a dispute about the company's account, the board has also agreed to appoint an independent auditor to review it.

"We are happy that the meeting concluded amiably. Now our concern is the interest of the board and shareholders. In order to resolve this issue, we need the co-operation of many parties including the tenderer's. The minimum bid will be RM 26 million this time," said Lim Gaik Tong, a major shareholder who is also the president of the Federation of Chinese Assembly Halls in Malaysia.

Next, Hoklian will negotiate with Fiamma regarding the cancellation of the approved sale. Hoklian had already received a 2% deposit from Fiamma.

"The fairest resolution now is to open the land for tender again by the two companies. We hope Fiamma will agree to our suggestion to put the land up for tender," said Lim. "The efforts of the Shareholder Rights Committee are praiseworthy. It protected the responsibilities of the board and the interest of the shareholders," he added.

"For the discussion of the next tender, we will ensure that the media will be present to ensure transparency," said Tan Chin Yim, spokesperson of the Shareholder Rights Committee, who also expressed optimism about the resolutions reached. He emphasised that the committee had never been against the sale of the land but the sale should be executed in the best interest of minority shareholders.

No fireworks at meeting

Although some shareholders proposed the appointment of a different auditor next year, a decision was made to retain the current auditor through a vote.

A total of 130 shareholders, who hold about 22.2% of the holdings' total shares, were present at the meeting. However, four out of nine members of the BOD were absent.

The Shareholder Rights Committee had arranged for transportation to the venue in order to encourage as many shareholders to attend the event and defend their say in the company's decision- making process. It deemed the turnout encouraging despite the absence of the majority of the holding company's over 8000 shareholders, 20% of whom were already deceased.

The outcome was rather anti-climatic as concerned parties had expected a tense atmosphere at the meeting. Security personnel and police officers were also present. The meeting was held behind closed doors with the media being denied admission.