Evergreen Marine shareholders have overwhelmingly backed the board in a victory for the founder’s eldest son, Chang Kuo-hua, over rival family members.
The company said 79.63% of the shareholders attending Monday’s annual general meeting in Taipei voted in favour of the board’s proposed capital reduction plan.
The resolution was passed despite resistance from Evergreen International Corp (EIC), a company in which younger brothers of Chang, who also goes by KH Chang, are shareholders.
EIC owns nearly 5% of Evergreen Marine, the main corporate entity in the Evergreen Line group.
The rebel shareholders had argued that the board’s plan to cut its paid-in capital by 60% favoured majority shareholder interests.
That claim was rejected by the management of the world’s sixth-largest liner shipping company.
Evergreen Marine’s share capital will account for 6.8% of the equity after the capital reduction, which would “be comparable to the ratios of [the] world’s mainstream container shipping lines”, the company said.
“The company’s financial structure will be more appropriate and in no way detrimental to shareholders’ interests as has been claimed by EIC,” it added.
Chang legacy
The shareholder revolt highlights a feud between the members of the Chang family that has raged in different forms since the passing of Evergreen founder Chang Yung-fa in 2016.
Chang left four sons, with Evergreen Marine coming under the stewardship in recent years of his eldest son, KH Chang.
His brothers, including Chang Kuo-ming (KM Chang), are shareholders in EIC, a firm founded by their father in 1984 that offers hotel management, shipping agency and real estate services.
On Monday, EIC used its status as a corporate shareholder to object to proposals to cut Evergreen Marine’s paid-in capital from the current TWD 52.91bn ($1.82bn) to about TWD 21.16bn.
The plan involves returning about TWD 31bn in cash to shareholders.
It was launched with the liner giant reporting a record net profit of TWD 239bn in 2021.
Revenue for the first three months of this year hit TWD 170bn, up 90% on last year.
“After a capital reduction, the company would still have ample funds for follow-up investments and future development,” the company said.
Evergreen says it operates 201 ships, of which 62% are owned, with a 5.8% market share. It has an orderbook of 61 vessels of 583,365 teu.
