The traditional company was the first Dax group to hold its shareholders' meeting entirely online. This did protect the participants from being infected with the virus. Shareholder protectors still had a lot to complain about.
Leverkusen (dpa) - No protest actions in front of the assembly hall, no critical shareholders at the lectern - just six Bayer managers in a carefully choreographed video broadcast.
In view of the corona pandemic, the Leverkusen-based pharmaceutical and agrochemical company Bayer was the first Dax group to take advantage of the opportunity to hold its general meeting entirely online. The model met with little enthusiasm among shareholder representatives.
"I have to admit that this is a very special situation for all of us here. On the one hand, we are digital pioneers - on the other hand, we lack direct exchange with you," said Bayer CEO Werner Baumann at the beginning of his speech to the shareholders. According to Bayer, at times almost 5,000 participants used the opportunity to watch the online general meeting via live stream.
What was clearly missing from the online general meeting: the direct encounter between management and shareholders. Just six board members and members of the supervisory board sat far apart in the large broadcast studio. The shareholders had had to submit their questions days before the meeting. Now Bayer CEO Werner Baumann, CFO Wolfgang Nickl and Chairman of the Supervisory Board Werner Wenning answered them in turn.
According to Bayer, 245 questions were received from 40 shareholders. That was actually not much less than at the "normal" Annual General Meeting 2019, when 69 shareholders spoke with 276 questions.
The chief executive of the German Association for the Protection of Securities, Marc Tüngler, nevertheless found little pleasure in the premiere. "It is right for the Corona period, but only for that," he told the German Press Agency. The model is not good beyond the crisis. "It is definitely not a win for the German shareholders," said Tüngler. Bayer did put a lot of effort into it. "But it is not comparable to a normal event. There is no dialogue between the owners, the board of directors and the supervisory board."
The corona crisis not only determined the form of the general meeting, but was also one of the most important issues. So far, the pandemic has had little impact on Bayer, but CEO Werner Baumann sees risks for the future. Over the next few months, it will be crucial for the group to "keep the supply chains as resilient as possible" and thus to secure business operations.
Last but not least, the uncertainties facing Bayer in the next few months included questions about how the crisis would affect the financial markets or the solvency of Bayer customers. It was also difficult to predict the consequences of the pandemic for the demand for Bayer products.
"The demand for some of our pharmaceutical products may decrease if patients cannot go to the doctor and scheduled treatments are postponed," said Baumann. The crisis could delay the approval of new drugs from the Bayer pipeline. And with the over-the-counter products, it is still uncertain whether the current high demand is primarily about stockpiling or is actually about increased consumption.
In view of the uncertainties in agriculture, it is also open how demand will develop. A realistic assessment of the positive and negative effects of the pandemic "will only be possible later in the year," said Baumann. The pandemic has also slowed efforts to quickly settle a US dispute over alleged cancer risks associated with weed killers containing glyphosate.
As unusual as the form of the Annual General Meeting was, the online shareholder meeting came to a positive conclusion for CEO Baumann. The shareholders voted with a large majority to discharge the board. At the 2019 Annual General Meeting, things looked very different. At that time, a majority of the shareholders surprisingly refused to discharge the board of directors because of the controversial takeover of the US company Monsanto. It was a resounding slap in the face for Baumann. Because it was the first time that happened to an incumbent CEO of a Dax group. At the time, however, the shareholders' resentment did not have any direct consequences for the Executive Board.
For Bayer Chairman Werner Wenning, the unusual general meeting was the end of his more than 50-year career at the Leverkusen-based group. His term ended with the event. For more than 20 years, the manager on the board of directors and the supervisory board had a significant influence on the fate of the group.