173 shareholders have attended today's Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders (EGM) of Barry Callebaut AG, the world's leading manufacturer of cocoa and chocolate products. They represented 3,683,249 shares or 71.24% of the share capital. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Dr. Andreas Jacobs, Chairman of the Board.
As announced on December 12, 2012, Barry Callebaut agreed to acquire the Cocoa Ingredients Division from Petra Foods Ltd., Singapore. For the purpose of partly financing this acquisition, Barry Callebaut's Board of Directors called for an EGM (see press release of March 27, 2013). Today, the shareholders agreed to the creation of authorized share capital of a maximum nominal amount of CHF 9,300,000 by issuing a maximum of 500,000 fully paid-up registered shares with a value of CHF 18.60. The Board of Directors can execute the respective capital increase until April 22, 2015 either by way of a rights issue or a private placement through an Accelerated Bookbuilding.
The shareholders also confirmed the election of Fernando Aguirre and Timothy E. Minges as new members of the Board of Directors of Barry Callebaut for the current term of office until the next Annual General Meeting on December 11, 2013.
Fernando Aguirre served as the Chairman and CEO of Chiquita Brands International Inc. from 2004 until 2012. Presently Mr. Aguirre is a consultant to Chiquita and a Director of Levi Strauss & Co. as well as a Director at Aetna Inc.
Timothy E. Minges is currently Chairman of PepsiCo Greater China Region and a member of PepsiCo's Executive Committee. Mr. Minges also serves on the Board of Tingyi-Asahi Beverage.
