Stockholm
Proxy Advisor Glass Lewis recommend Ericsson shareholders not to grant discharge to the entire company’s Board of Directors, says the Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri.
Ericsson’s Board of Directors is influenced by, among others, the CEO Börje Ekholm and act as Vice-Chairs investorin Chairman of the Board Jacob Wallenberg and Industrivärdenin managing director Helena Stjernholm.
According to Glass Lewis, Ekholm, who has been on Ericsson’s board of directors since 2006, should no longer be elected for a new term.
Investor and Industrivärden are Ericsson’s largest shareholders and exercise a total of 39 percent of the company’s total voting rights.
Ericsson’s Chairman of the Board since 2018 has a Belgian background Ronnie Leten. Leten has previously been largely owned by Investor Atlas Copcon as Group President.
According to the Glass Lewis report seen by DI, Ericsson’s development since the last Annual General Meeting is a valid cause for concern for shareholders.
Glass Lewis refers not only to the Iraq scandal that has shaken Ericsson recently, but also to how the U.S. Department of Justice has twice criticized Ericsson for violating a 2019 corruption deal.
Ericsson’s Annual General Meeting will be held on March 29 remotely.
Earlier this week, Glass Lewis rivaled Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recommended that shareholders do not grant a discharge to Börje Ekholm and the members of Ericsson’s Board of Directors.
Ericsson’s share price has fallen 16.1 percent this year. On Wednesday afternoon, the share price rose 0.7 percent to SEK 83.7.