12 June 2024
DIGITAL 9 INFRASTRUCTURE
PLC
("D9", the "Company" or,
together with its subsidiaries, the "Group")
RESULT OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING,
DIRECTORATE CHANGES AND UPDATE ON THE MANAGED
WIND-DOWN
The Board of Digital 9 Infrastructure plc ("the
Board") announces that at the Company's Annual General Meeting
("AGM") held today, all resolutions were voted on by way of a poll.
Resolutions 1, 2, 5, 6, 7 and 8 were passed by the requisite
majorities of shareholders. Following Gailina Liew stepping down as
a Non-Executive Director as announced this morning, the Company's
Jersey lawyers have advised that, in view of Gailina Liew no longer
being willing to act as a director, the proposed ordinary
resolution for her re-election to the Board is not capable of
having any effect in law. In the circumstances resolution 4 for
Gailina Liew's re-election to the Board, which had been proposed in
the Notice of the AGM was withdrawn at the discretion of the chair
of the meeting and resolution 4 was therefore not passed. Votes
cast in favour of resolution 3, being the re-election of Aaron Le
Cornu, did not meet the requisite majority and therefore was not
passed; further detail regarding the resulting directorate changes
is set out below.
Resolutions 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 (inclusive)
were proposed as ordinary resolutions and resolution 8 was proposed
as a special resolution. The results of the poll were as
follows:
Resolution
|
Votes For
|
%
|
Votes Against
|
%
|
Total votes validly
cast
|
Total votes cast as % of
issued share capital
|
Votes Withheld*
|
1
|
To receive and adopt the Annual
Report and Accounts of the Company for the period to 31 December
2023.
|
437,514,221
|
92.15
|
37,295,509
|
7.85
|
474,809,730
|
54.88
|
316,943
|
2
|
To approve the Directors'
Remuneration Report (excluding the part containing the Directors'
Remuneration Policy).
|
406,501,850
|
85.62
|
68,284,823
|
14.38
|
474,786,673
|
54.88
|
340,000
|
3
|
To re-elect Aaron Le Cornu as a
Director of the Company.
|
188,644,806
|
39.73
|
286,227,920
|
60.27
|
474,872,726
|
54.89
|
253,947
|
4
|
To re-elect Gailina Liew as a
Director of the Company.
|
This resolution was withdrawn and therefore not voted
upon.
|
5
|
To appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers
LLP as Auditors of the Company.
|
457,653,026
|
97.67
|
10,924,850
|
2.33
|
468,577,876
|
54.16
|
6,548,797
|
6
|
To authorise the Audit Committee to
determine the Auditors' remuneration.
|
457,738,322
|
97.69
|
10,809,614
|
2.31
|
468,547,936
|
54.16
|
6,578,737
|
7
|
To authorise the Directors to
declare and pay all dividends of the Company as interim
dividends.
|
448,706,694
|
95.74
|
19,976,109
|
4.26
|
468,682,803
|
54.17
|
6,443,870
|
8
|
To authorise the Company to purchase
its own shares.
|
448,746,072
|
95.73
|
20,017,488
|
4.27
|
468,763,560
|
54.18
|
6,363,113
|
*A vote withheld is not a vote in
law and is not counted in the calculation of the votes for or
against a resolution.
Each shareholder has one vote for
every Ordinary Share held. At 12 June 2024, the issued share
capital of the Company consisted of 865,174,954 Ordinary Shares
with voting rights. The Company does not hold any shares in
Treasury.
Directorate
Changes
On 12 June 2024, the Board announced
the appointment of Andrew Zychowski as a Non-Executive Director of
the Company. However, Andrew Zychowski's appointment is
subject to his receipt of the required prior written confirmation
of no objection of the Jersey Financial Services Commission
("JFSC"), pursuant to the Collective Investment Funds (Jersey) Law
1988 (the "CIF Law"), and as such his appointment is not yet
effective. Following Gailina Liew stepping down as a Director
effective 11 June 2024, resolution 4 was withdrawn and not voted
upon.
As a result of ordinary resolution 3
not meeting the requisite simple majority of votes cast in order to
pass, Aaron Le Cornu was not re-elected by shareholders as Director
of the Company and therefore immediately stepped down as a
Non-Executive Director at the conclusion of the AGM. This resulted
in Eric Sanderson being the sole director of the Company.
The Company's Articles of
Association (the "Articles") prescribe that the Company must have a
minimum of two Directors. The Articles also provide that if the
number of directors is less than the minimum prescribed by the
Articles, the remaining director shall act only for the purpose of
either: (a) appointing an additional director to make up such
minimum; or (b) convening a general meeting of the Company for the
purpose of making such appointment. In addition, the Company
is regulated by the JFSC as a Listed Fund (as defined in the Jersey
Listed Fund Guide published by the JFSC) under the CIF Law and the
Jersey Listed Fund Guide. A standard requirement of the Jersey
Listed Fund Guide is that a Listed Fund must have at least two
Jersey resident directors at all times; however, the Company has
obtained a derogation in respect of this requirement from the JFSC
which permits the Company to have a minimum of one Jersey resident
director on the Board at all times (providing that the Company
maintains a premium listing on the main market of the London Stock
Exchange). Both Eric Sanderson and Andrew Zychowski (whose
appointment is subject to the prior written no objection of the
JFSC) are residents of the United Kingdom.
Consequently:
·
as permitted by the Articles and to enable the
full powers of the Board to be utilised, a sole director's
resolution was passed immediately following the conclusion of the
AGM by Eric Sanderson, Chair, to re-appoint Aaron Le Cornu (who is
a Jersey resident) as a Non-Executive Director of the Company on an
interim basis until another Jersey resident Non-Executive Director
has been appointed to the Board (whereupon Aaron Le Cornu will step
down); and
·
the Board's Nomination Committee will now lead an
independent recruitment process for the appointment of a Jersey
resident Non-Executive Director and the outcome of this process
will be announced in due course.
The full text of all these
resolutions can be found in the Notice of Annual General Meeting
dated 21 May 2024, a copy of which is available on the Company's
website at www.d9infrastructure.com
In accordance with Listing Rule
9.6.2 copies of all the resolutions passed, other than ordinary
business, will be submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and
will shortly be available for inspection at: https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism.
Eric Sanderson, Chair, Digital 9 Infrastructure plc,
commented:
"I would like to thank Aaron Le
Cornu for his significant time commitment and contribution to the
Board since his appointment in April 2022, and for his
re-appointment to the Board on an interim basis whilst we carry out
a recruitment process to identify his replacement. The focus for
this recruitment will be to appoint a Non-Executive Director with
the appropriate skills and experience to implement the managed
wind-down, approved by shareholders in March, alongside me and
Andrew.
Separately, the process for selling
the Company's wholly owned assets is well underway and a first
update is expected to be provided towards the end of the summer. We
remind shareholders that sale processes will only be progressed if
the Board is satisfied that the values achieved are acceptable. We
will seek to realise all of the Company's assets in a manner that
achieves a balance between maximising the net value from these
assets and making timely capital returns to
shareholders.
I thank shareholders for their
continued patience and support whilst we continue executing our
priorities."
ENDS.
Contacts
Liberum Capital Limited (Financial Adviser)
Chris Clarke
Darren Vickers
Owen Matthews
|
+44 (0)203 100
2000
|
J.P. Morgan Cazenove (Corporate Broker)
William Simmonds
Jérémie Birnbaum
|
+44 (0)20 7742
4000
|
FTI
Consulting (Communications Adviser)
Mitch Barltrop
Maxime Lopes
|
dgi9@fticonsulting.com
+44 (0) 7807 296
032
+44 (0) 7890 896
777
|
About Digital 9 Infrastructure plc
Digital 9 Infrastructure plc (DGI9)
is an investment trust listed on the London Stock Exchange and a
constituent of the FTSE All-Share, with the ticker DGI9. The
Company invests in the infrastructure of the internet that
underpins the world's digital economy: digital
infrastructure.
The Investment Manager is Triple
Point Investment Management LLP ("Triple Point") which is
authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. For
more information on the Investment Manager please visit
www.triplepoint.co.uk.
For more information, please visit www.d9infrastructure.com.