ecoWise shareholders call for yet another EGM to remove deputy CEO, appoint new directors

FOURTEEN shareholders of strife-hit ecoWise Holdings ECOW.SI have called for yet another extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of the company to remove its deputy CEO Cao Shixuan after a previous attempt to hold an EGM for the same purpose was brought to an end by a High Court injunction.

In a notice sent to ecoWise dated Oct 22 by the EGM requisitionists and seen by The Business Times, the shareholders - which hold over 118 million ecoWise shares or approximately 12.5 per cent of the total number of paid-up shares of the company - have called for the EGM to be held on Nov 26, no later than 28 days from the date of the notice.

The shareholders include previous EGM requisitionists Tan Swee Boon and Winston Tan Jin Beng as well as ecoWise founder and CEO Lee Thiam Seng who has been involved in a publicised tussle with Cao.

The resolutions to be tabled at this EGM include the removal of Cao as a director of the company and "for all necessary steps to be taken to remove him from all appointments with the company, its subsidiaries and its associated and investee companies".

Other resolutions include the appointment of Dr Danny Oh Beng Teck, Gan Fong Jek and Allan Tan Poh Chye as directors of the company.

In their notice, the requisitionists have also asked for ecoWise to publish a copy of the notice on SGXNet and the company's website by Oct 26.

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ecoWise has not issued an announcement on this requisition nor has it posted a copy of the notice on SGXNet at this time.

A previous requisition for an EGM - to vote on Cao's removal as well as on the appointment of new directors - could not proceed after the High Court on Aug 12 granted an interim injunction of the meeting.

The injunction application had been brought before the court by Cao who is also an executive director at ecoWise, the Catalist company had said in a bourse filing the day before the proposed EGM was to be held.

ecoWise had also appointed two new independent directors effective Sept 3 following a notice of compliance issued by Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) on June 25. The notice ordered the company to appoint two new independent directors, commission an internal audit and an audit of its first-half 2021 results and form a new auditing committee.

SGX RegCo said then that it was concerned about the "lack of a strong and independent element on the board", the accuracy of the company's H1 2021 results, the adequacy and effectiveness of internal controls in relation to ecoWise's financial reporting, release of announcements, escalation and information flow to the board and the safeguarding of the group's assets.

ecoWise shares have been suspended from trading since June 18. They last traded at S$0.078.