Can Singapore-listed companies legally block shareholder proposals?

IN A landmark lawsuit that could potentially silence minority shareholders of big companies, oil and gas giant ExxonMobil has sued activist investors in a bid to block their climate change proposal from being voted on at its upcoming annual meeting in May. 

Exxon in January sued two sustainability investors – Arjuna Capital and Follow This – in a federal court in Texas for filing a shareholder proposal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The company claimed that the investors had “(hijacked) the shareholder proposal process” by constantly filing similar proposals year after year to advance their social causes rather than grow shareholder value.