Sasol chairman meets shareholder activist

Sasol's new chairman, Mandla Gantsho, had his first tense encounter on Friday with shareholder activist Theo Botha.

But Gantsho, presiding at his inaugural AGM as chairman of the company since Hixonia Nyasulu resigned last year, quickly had enough of Botha's grilling.

He pleaded with Botha to end his questions to the board.

"I do not want to use my power of being the boss," Gantsho said, but then did so anyway, cutting Botha off and moving on to other items on the agenda.

Botha and other shareholders said the petrochemical group was not revealing enough information about its R90-billion investment in an ethane cracker and derivatives complex at its site in Lake Charles, Louisiana, in the US.

Botha said the board needed to align the interests of shareholders with those of management by allowing shareholders to vote on the issue.

He fumed that the board should not be allowed to announce the deal without prior consultation, saying: "This is totally unacceptable because if we allow them to continue doing this, how do we hold them to account?"

The board promised to improve on its consultative process with shareholders.

This is not the first time that shareholders have shown dissatisfaction about the Lake Charles deal.

Sasol's share price fell 0.5% on the day the investment was announced last month.

Shareholders also said that executives' targets for earning incentives were too low.

The bonus incentives were intact for the period even though the company missed market estimates.

Sasol's share price rose 2.29% in the year, well below the JSE's average of 8.5%.

CEO David Constable' s bonus more than doubled, which particularly troubled shareholders.

Constable's total earnings including short-term bonuses came to more than R30-million - tax free.

Sasol said incentives were based on international standards, which included low taxes for expats. In other words, it had Constable's tax bill covered.

During the voting on remuneration policy amendments for the next financial year, 11.7% shareholders were opposed and 88.2% in favour.

About 10% of shareholders showed contempt for the request to increase directors' tenure to more than five years by voting against this motion.