Shareholders reduce Pharol’s board of directors

  • ECO News
  • 8 January 2020

At the second and last attempt, Pharol's shareholders approved the two Real Vida Seguros proposals.

Pharol’s board size was reduced after the company’s shareholders approved a proposal to that effect. They also dismissed the directors Jorge das Neves and Aristóteles Drummond.

The shareholders met this Wednesday in an extraordinary general meeting, in a second and final attempt to vote on two proposals from Real Vida Seguros, which controls 4.34% of Pharol. According to ECO, the meeting had even less participation than the first attempt, on December 18th, postponed for lack of quorum.

The two proposals were unanimously approved, which has reduced the minimum and the maximum number of Pharol board members to three and seven, as opposed to the nine and eleven previously planned, and the removal of the two directors mentioned.

The effective reduction in the board’s size of directors was a necessary measure because, from Real Vida Seguros, the previous limits were set “when a vast scope for the company’s activity was anticipated.“ Now, Pharol is limited to “managing the social participation” it has in the Brazilian operator Oi.

This meeting, arranged for November, had also been scheduled to dismiss Brazilian businessman Nelson Tanure, who eventually left Pharol by his foot on December 10th. Tanure, who even directly and indirectly controlled over 18 percent of the company, told ECO that he was leaving with “tens of millions of euros in losses.”

Real Vida Seguros is controlled by Patris, of Gonçalo Pereira Coutinho. The company became a qualified shareholder of Pharol on October 9th. The former holding company of Portugal Telecom is still controlled 10% by Telemar Norte Leste, 9.56% by Novo Banco, 4.88% by High Bridge (associated with Tanure but under control of BCP). The company is listed on the Lisbon Stock Exchange and is part of the PSI-20.