ZURICH (Reuters) – Swatch Group shareholders on Wednesday rejected a bid by an American investor to secure a place on the company’s board, a source familiar with the matter said, as the family that has long dominated the watchmaker closed ranks to keep him out.
Steven Wood, founder of U.S. firm GreenWood Investors, has been pressing Swatch to focus more on its luxury brands such as Breguet and Blancpain in an attempt to turn around the fortunes of the Swiss company.
To be elected to the board he had to win over the Hayek family, which controls about 44% of Swatch voting rights. Swatch’s board had recommended Wood’s bid be rejected prior to the firm’s annual general meeting on Wednesday.
At a vote in the meeting, former Swiss National Bank chairman Jean-Pierre Roth got more backing to be on the board than Wood, according to a person attending the AGM.
GreenWood holds about 0.5% of Swatch shares and Wood was seeking to represent so-called bearer shareholders, which have a majority of the share capital, but not of the voting rights.
(Reporting by Dave Graham and Oliver Hirt. Additional reporting by Paul Arnold and Danilo Masoni. Editing by Mark Potter)
