Preventing investors from making informed decisions

Mediapersons should not be barred from shareholder meetings of public companies

Last Friday, Union Properties removed three of its board members during the company’s Annual General Meeting. It was just the latest exchange in a very contentious fight, with the former chairman claiming he was defamed and the new board seemingly set to start legal proceedings over how the company has been handled over the past few years.

Despite the fact that this was a shareholder’s meeting of a public company, the media was not allowed in. Union Properties is not the only company that bars journalists from their AGMs. More and more public companies have been using the excuse that these are “shareholders” meetings to keep journalists out. The real reason for the ban is that journalists were showing up and asking inconvenient questions that put companies’ executives under a harsh spotlight — in other words, doing their job of keeping the public informed. These companies are in no way private. They are listed on the Dubai Financial Market and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, stock exchanges both of which have been included in the MSCI’s Emerging Markets Index, a listing that provides information on stocks to institutional investors around the world. Despite this exposure, there are executives who are acting as if these public companies are their own private playgrounds and above scrutiny.

AGMs should be transparent. Everyone with an interest in a company’s shares, from the local Mum and Pop investors to international funds have a right to know what is going on in markets, and that is a job that journalists can perform best. Companies trying to avoid scrutiny only end up raising a bigger question: what are you trying to hide? Investors, especially those looking for insight into the growing fight at Union Properties, have a right to know.