Institutions vote against ACC, Ambuja resolutions

livemint.com:

NEW DELHI, BENGALURU : More than half of the institutional investors of Adani Group cement companies—ACC Ltd and Ambuja Cement Ltd—voted against adopting the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023 after the firms’ statutory auditors raised concerns about certain developments, and at least one proxy advisory firm recommended voting against the resolution. Sixty-three per cent of large investors voted against ACC’s adoption of financial statements at its annual general meeting on 20 July, according to voting records published on BSE on Tuesday.

But a 57% promoter holding helped the resolution secure approval with an 85% vote in favour. Despite about 54% of institutional investors rejecting the adoption of financial statements at Ambuja Cements in the shareholder meeting on 20 July, the resolution was approved with 89.4% voting in favour, thanks to the Adani group’s 63.2% ownership.

Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI), and California Pension Fund are three foreign institutional investors (FIIs) that voted against the resolution at ACC and Ambuja Cements, documents reviewed by Mint show. “A vote AGAINST this resolution is warranted given the auditors’ qualified opinion that raises concern over the accuracy of the company’s financial statements," British Columbia Investment Management Corp., a Canadian fund that manages $200 billion in assets, said when it voted against the resolution at ACC.

“We are voting against this proposal as we have concerns over the reliability of the financial statements given that the audit firm has issued a qualified opinion," BCI reasoned when it exercised its vote at Ambuja Cements. “A vote against is applied as the