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General Meetings
Under the Finnish Companies Act, shareholders exercise their power to decide on corporate matters at General Meetings. According to the Company’s Articles of Association, the Annual General Meeting shall be held annually within six months from the end of the financial year. The Annual General Meeting shall decide, among others, upon the approval of the financial statements, auditor’s report, distribution of dividend and elections of members of the Board of Directors and the auditor and their remuneration. The Annual General Meeting decides also upon discharge of the Board of Directors and of the CEO from liability. Extraordinary General Meetings in respect of specific matters must be held when considered necessary by the Board of Directors, or when requested in writing by the auditor of the Company or by shareholders of the Company holding at least 10 percent of all the Shares of the Company.
According to the Finnish Companies Act and the Company’s Articles of Association, the notice convening a General Meeting of Shareholders shall be delivered to the shareholders no more than three months and no less than three weeks before the meeting, however, at least nine days before the record date of the General Meeting of Shareholders. The notice shall be delivered to the shareholders with a notification published in the Company’s website or at least in one national daily newspaper designated by the Board of Directors. To be entitled to attend the General Meeting of Shareholders, the shareholder shall notify his/her attendance to the Company at the latest by the date mentioned in the notice convening the meeting, which date may be no more than ten days before the General Meeting of Shareholders.
In order to have the right to attend and vote at a General Meeting of Shareholders, a shareholder must be registered, in accordance with the Act on the Book-entry System and Clearing Operations, in the shareholders’ register maintained by Euroclear Finland no later than eight business days prior to the relevant General Meeting of Shareholders (the record date of the General Meeting of Shareholders). A beneficial owner wishing to attend and vote at the General Meeting of Shareholders should seek a temporary registration in the shareholders’ register. The notification of temporary registration should be made at the latest on the date mentioned in the notice to the General Meeting of Shareholders, which shall according to the Finnish Companies Act be after the record date of the General Meeting of Shareholders, and such notification is considered a notice of participation in the General Meeting of Shareholders. If the shareholder is participating in the General Meeting of Shareholders through several authorised representatives, the shareholder shall in connection with the notification notify the shares on the basis of which each authorised representative represents the shareholder.
Except for certain exceptions stipulated in the Finnish Companies Act, there are no quorum requirements for General Meetings of Shareholders.