SIAS-initiated sessions mostly constructive, but not all are useful

THE heart-to-heart townhall meetings hosted by the Securities Investors' Association of Singapore (SIAS) to help companies' boards or management address disgruntled investors are no doubt useful.

They provide an additional avenue for unhappy investors to air their concerns (or in some cases, niggling suspicions) and also access to top officials of a company - an opportunity they otherwise may not have beyond the annual shareholder meetings.

During its fiscal 2017, the shareholder activist group organised 12 dialogue sessions - all well intentioned - to help shareholders make sense of corporate actions like a privatisation offer or restructuring plan, or to iron out worries over a company's accounts or financial health.